The Threat
by Catygirl
Summary: Threats come in all shapes and sizes, how we deal with them can define us. How does Elizabeth, Henry the rest of the McCord family, the President and the world deal with the threats they face. AN: Three characters have been tagged for this fic but it is one that features most of the cast of the show.
1. Chapter 1

Madam Secretary – The Threat

Prologue

 _Threats can come in many shapes and sizes; they can be large or small._  
 _Threats can be made on individuals or on large states, can threaten families or a whole nation.  
Threats can be seen in advance or come as a major and shocking surprise.  
Threats can be conquered or can overwhelm us all, they can be dealt with easily or take time to overcome.  
Dealing with threats can bring us together or tear us apart, they can unite individuals and make them a community or they can divide a once solid group.  
However, no matter what, a threat will always change people. It may change your outlook positively or negatively.  
A threat will make the world different, it will result in a different outcome as the world, be it the whole world or an individual's world comes to terms with it. _


	2. Threats can be Huge

The Threat – Chapter 1.

Here is my new Madam Secretary story, it has about 15 chapters. Again it is set in the world between season 1 and 2, everything from season 1 is the same in this story but nothing of season 2 has happened as I haven't seen it. Hope you enjoy, let me know what you think.

" _Threats can be huge and threaten a whole nation."_

Henry heard the quick footsteps before he was fully awake. He awoke to one of his girl's screams and was out of the bed and almost through the bedroom door when his wife's security detail burst into the room.

"Dr McCord we need to move. NOW" Frank bellowed as he saw that Henry was out of bed.

"What's wrong?" Henry questioned, his heart rate increasing as his mind went over the potential answers to the question.

"I'm not at liberty to tell you Sir. Please gather the children and come with us." Frank left as quickly as he had arrived and Henry was left standing at the end of his bed.

"Daddy" he heard Allison suddenly scream. Henry snapped out of his groggy state and ran into the corridor. Jason was already there and Henry could see past him into Allison's room and the fact that she had screamed at the large man taking up most of the space in the doorway. Stevie arrived at her sister's door, wrapped in a large blanket.

"Dad what's going on?" She asked sleepily.

"Not sure honey, Frank needs us to go with him quickly, grab your overnight bags and let's go." Henry tried to keep calm but firm, whatever was going on was big and for the sake of Elizabeth who wasn't in the house he knew he had to go.

"Where's Mom?" Jason asked looking past his father and not seeing her in their room.

"She didn't come home last night." Henry stated then looked at Frank, "Can you at least tell us if you are here to take us to her?"

"Yes Sir, the Secretary has ordered us to take you somewhere safe where she will meet us. Can we go, NOW."

Henry breathed slowly, "Yeah, sorry, kids do what the detail want, let's go."

Henry made his way back to his room, ever since Elizabeth had taken this job and they had the initial security briefing they all had an overnight bag ready to go. This would be the first time they had been forced to use them and it worried Henry that Elizabeth had decided to order the whole family woken and taken to her. He quickly changed from his pyjamas to his sweats, he figured he needed to be comfortable as they could be going anywhere.

"Dad you gotta see this!" Jason's voice boomed through the house.

Henry grabbed his bag and moved again along the upstairs corridor, again he was joined by his daughters and the detail, all apparently keen to see what Jason was talking about. Jason came out of his room pulling his case and waving his i-pad at them all.

"Look there's been two bombs, the Parliament in the UK has been hit and they've evacuated the Parliament in Germany."

"Is this why we are going, is there a threat here?" Henry asked Frank as he ushered them all down the stairs.

"I'm sorry Dr McCord, the Secretary did not give me permission to tell you anything."

"Of course she didn't, I will be having words." Henry tried to lighten the mood as they made their way to the door.

On opening the door the first thing the entire group noticed was the sound of the sirens all over the city.

"Has it happened here, is mom ok?" Allison asked with fear in her voice.

She had only just finished speaking when there was a loud, large boom and suddenly they were in no doubt that there was a major threat to their country.

Frank bundled the four members of MSec's family into the waiting car and jumped in the front.

"Let's go. Get on the radio, check what's going on and whether we are still a go for plan A or whether we are switching locations." He told the other agent.

They sped away from the house and Henry found himself trying to calm his very scared children in a way that he had not had to do since Jason had stopped believing Stevie had found a monster under his bed. They were all quiet but Allison was shaking, Stevie was staring into space and Jason, his normally macho son, was burrowed under his arm. Not that he could blame them, if he wasn't the father in this scenario he would be exhibiting all the symptoms his children were, including finding someone to hug. Of course what he really wanted was to be able to hug his wife. Henry was scared, about as scared as he had been when the phone call told him that Elizabeth was lost in Iran. There had been a bomb, here, and since it was not daytime like in Europe it was unlikely to have been the Capitol building, no he assumed that someone had attacked a big target, maybe the White House or more worryingly, since Elizabeth had sent her detail to get them, maybe his wife's office.

Stevie was huddled in the backseat trying desperately not to completely freak out in front of her family. She couldn't decide what was more worrying, the fact that there had been a bomb, the fact that her mom was somewhere else and not with them or the fact that her friend and boyfriend, could also be under threat. She needed to know where that explosion had occurred. She could get on her phone and do what Jason had done at the house and yet she also didn't want to know because for now she could live in innocence and in the unknown. The minute she looked up that website and let CNN or NBC tell her what was going on she would be swept into a nightmare that may be worse than Iran.

Suddenly the car swerved around the corner and all of the occupants looked out of the window to see another explosion in the distance.

"Frank I don't care how you do it, but you get my wife on the phone right the hell now." Henry yelled from the back seat trying desperately to get his phone to connect to that of his wife. He was beyond the point where he could be calm and as he looked out the window he could see that most of the other drivers around them felt the same. He was very grateful for the driving classes given to agents as their driver had to skilfully manoeuvre them past crashes and screaming people, none of whom could believe that their early morning was being disrupted in such a way.

"I'm trying Dr McCord, only I think the phone system must be down."

"Damn it, at least tell me that you know she is safe."

Frank didn't say anything but did catch Henry's eye in the mirror on the sunshade and the look that passed between them terrified Henry even more.

 **AN** : So this is obviously an attack story and will be dealing with themes of that nature. It is not based on current events, they kinda overtook the writing of the story. However this is the world that the show is set in so it seems reasonable to use these themes. More to come soon. Thanks


	3. Surprising and Uniting

Chapter 2

 _ **Glad you enjoyed chapter 1, here is chapter 2, Elizabeth and her office.**_

" _Threats can be a shocking surprise and unite individuals"_

Elizabeth McCord, the United States Secretary of State was completely exhausted. It had been a long few months since her time in Iran, and her body was deciding that it needed a break. She had told Henry that morning that she had planned an early night for today as there didn't seem to be a huge amount of work to do. However, she did not follow her own golden rule and actually tell Blake that information because, as often happened, the hours slipped away and before she knew it, it was around 10pm. If she had spoken to her assistant then she would have surely been parcelled into her motorcade and safely home by early evening. Her office was quiet by the time that she was planning to leave but just as she gathered her coat and briefcase, her world seemed to take another spin as she received a call from the White House, summoning her to an immediate intelligence briefing in the situation room.

Four hours after leaving her office for the meeting she was back. The intelligence briefing had been disturbing. Multiple threats, varying locations and yet nothing concrete. They could cause more damage with panic than they could by protecting the potential sites. There was debate over whether the intelligence was even credible. It was sketchy at best and although her office had been mentioned, no-one at the briefing saw any real threat in the middle of a secure building like the State Department. However given the briefing, no matter how vague, Elizabeth had called her security from the White House to ask the non-critical staff members to leave for the night. As she had expected, she returned to an office where her senior staff had very quickly stated they were not leaving without their boss so Nadine, Jay, Daisy, Matt and Blake would stay. Elizabeth was always a cautious person and she ordered her staff to get their overnight belongings and begin arranging a move to a safer location at some point during the night. They then spent the next few hours securing the office, including backing up all their work in case the intelligence which had been so brief actually proved to be correct and they were all under threat. Time went by and nothing else was heard, it was almost two hours after she arrived back from the White House before anything happened.

When she came to look back on it Elizabeth would note that perhaps what surprised her the most was that the intelligence had been correct. So much of her life through her job at the CIA in particular had involved rumours and suspicions that never turned in to actual threats. However this was not the case in this situation, the word of the incident in the UK had come directly from her ambassador there. He had succinctly told her of a bomb in the Houses of Parliament at a time when many people; MP's, staff and civilians had been present. It was as if time stood still but also sped up. Suddenly phones were ringing all over the office, many simply reporting events in the UK and then in Germany but it was one call that panicked Elizabeth the most. The National Security Advisor reported that the State Department was definitely under threat. Upon hearing this Elizabeth and her detail then made the decision to evacuate the State department completely.

Frank, her senior agent, was in charge of getting them all out of the building but Elizabeth decided to send Frank, to get her family, they were the most important thing to her at that point. The threat that had been presented to her in the situation room had not just been against her or the other members of the cabinet but had been potentially against their families and she was taking no risks. To say the least, Frank was unhappy but Elizabeth made the point that she had a motorcade filled with agents and her family had only the man on the door. She needed to get them out. They would be taken from the house to a safe place and she would meet them there. She made the same arrangements for Jay's family, none of the others had close family at home and she wanted to give Jay the same reassurance as she was giving herself.

Her detail had just got Elizabeth and her staff into cars when there was a loud explosion that rocked the car and shook her to the core, the bright ball of flames seeming to cover the whole window of the vehicle where once her office had been.

Despite her public persona of a strong and healed woman, inside Elizabeth had not recovered completely from Iran. She was generally fine, if a little more hyper aware of her surroundings, but had not had a full panic attack complete with flash back since the first occurrence. However, with the bomb so close and the car shaking, Elizabeth was thrown into a full flash back which she had no way of controlling. She became sweaty and all she could see was the glass around her in that house shattering and the eyes of the little boy that she couldn't get to. Her breathing became laboured and she began to panic. She could feel her chest tightening and there was little she could do to stop it. As the car she was in squealed from the edge of the kerb and moved into the flow of traffic she was catapulted back to the car in Iran and it took all her effort not to start screaming or sobbing.

Blake, her constant companion lately and one of the only people apart from Henry and the therapist to know her struggle noticed the change in her. Blake looked across the car, still in shock himself at what had happened to their office, and could see that his boss was not coping and was in fact about to have a full on panic attack. He was always able to read her mood, even more since the attack in Iran when she was less able to hide when the panic struck. He knew he would have to be discreet but it was just the two of them and Nadine in the car and it would be far more important to calm the Secretary now than have to make a stop at George Washington hospital. Blake quickly leaned over the space between them and pulled her hand into his and calmly stroked his thumb over her knuckles. Although he had only witnessed her first attack, Henry McCord had been insistent that Blake learn how to cope with them. Henry had instructed him to keep her calm, orientated on something in the room where she was which would involve touching her, they had all agreed that her hand was the least embarrassing place for him to touch, rubbing her back would be a little too intimate for their relationship. He understood that he was not Henry McCord but hoped that the action would have the same effect even if he wasn't the man she would wish was there.

At the feel of the fingers touching her hand Elizabeth finally took a full breath and looked up, almost expecting to see Henry and a little confused when it was actually her assistant she saw. Despite agreeing to this action over a month ago, she had to stop herself from pulling her hand away from his and allowing the comfort that Blake was trying to give her. She looked around, her eyes wide with panic as she tried desperately to stop the pictures spinning through her mind, willing herself to be somewhere else, only to be confronted with a very scared Nadine.

Elizabeth couldn't talk but she realised that the other woman was feeling almost like she was, although Nadine had a firmer control on her heart and breathing rate. Elizabeth took the surprising step of reaching out her empty hand to grasp that of her Chief of Staff. Even in her state she could acknowledge that the simple action Blake had taken was helping her, perhaps if by holding her hand Blake could help her then she could, in turn, help Nadine. Nadine grasped the hand offered to her and smiled at both her boss and at her boss's assistant as they all realised that they needed each other.

As the car drove away they could hear the noise of the sirens around them, building more and more as the emergency services approached their position and the scene of a bomb. Elizabeth had no real idea where they were going immediately but knew that eventually her detail would ensure they were somewhere safe probably in communication with the White House Secret Service. She was almost in control of her breathing and her panic was decreasing but completely lost it again when she heard the second explosion which made her jump and finally she felt the attack fully come upon her and she began to sob.

 **AN: Thanks for reading, let me know what you think. More to come towards the end of the week.**


	4. Overwhelming

Chapter 3

 **So I am really amazed with the response to this story, I'm so pleased that you are enjoying it. This one is total angst I'm afraid but it is needed.**

" _Threats can overwhelm us and tear us apart inside."_

Stevie was turned away from her family in the back of the SUV, and in the dark was able to finally have the courage to look up her phone to see if she could find out what was going on. The signal wasn't great but she did manage to get on one website. She couldn't believe her eyes when she read about the two explosions. The second explosion was the more deadly of the two, while the office of the Secretary of State had been empty at the time of the explosion; it was not the same at the White House. The explosion there had ripped through the West Wing whilst many of the staff, secret service and journalists had still been in the building. Before it crashed all she could read was that the website was speculating over the fate of her mother and of the President and his family whether they had all been evacuated or not. Her gasp from the other side of the car from her father caused him to look over at her. She had turned white and was clearly shaken.

"What….what is it?" His voice broke as he tried to ask the question he was dreading the answer to.

"Mom…her office…..The White House…" Stevie stammered, her eyes filling with tears as she spoke.

Henry was struck dumb, he couldn't speak. She had been attacked, deliberately.

Jason looked up from his father's chest, "Is Mom ok, does it say?"

Stevie was so stricken she could hardly even speak.

"Stevie what does it say?" Allison asked the question as she watched her sister's eyes fill with tears.

"Stevie." Henry finally found his voice and snapped at her, "Answer the question." He needed to know, now.

She shook her head, "It doesn't say." She whispered, and all four people in the back of the car had tears in their eyes.

They were silent for what felt like hours as the car continued to move through the streets of Washington away from the sirens and the destroyed buildings.

"Dr McCord." Frank spoke from the front of the car. He handed a walkie talkie back to Henry, "It's our back up method, Sir, your wife is in a car and needs to speak to you."

"She's ok?" Henry questioned Frank.

"They got her out sir but she needs you to speak to her." Frank answered

Henry grabbed the gizmo like it was his life line and in a way it was while the he looked at the kids, all smiling, delighted to hear that their mom was ok. He pressed the button on the side and tried to keep calm as he spoke. "Elizabeth, are you there." He released the button, his military training reminding him how to use a walkie talkie. When there was no response he pressed the button again. "C'mon babe, you remember how these work, press the button and let me hear your voice, then let it go and I'll speak to you." He did as he had instructed her and waited.

"Henry?" her voice came through grainy and sounded shaky but it was definitely her.

He was so relieved to hear her voice he smiled at the kids and after waiting a few seconds he depressed the button again hoping she had released the one on her end. "Yes baby, I'm here and so are the kids, are you ok?"

Again he waited and he thought they had been cut off, he was surprised when he didn't get an answer from Elizabeth but from Blake. "Dr McCord, Madam Secretary is physically fine but the office was bombed, we were in the car just outside and well….."

"Is it an attack?" Henry asked quietly when the line went quiet on the other side.

"Yes Sir, I think it would be good if you and your children could just talk to her, if you could."

"Yes, of course….Elizabeth you are ok, we are all fine." He moved the walkie talkie in to the centre between them and with his free hand nudged the kids to join in his discussion. "The kids are here and although they are a bit tired we are so thankful that you sent Frank to us." He struggled to find words but knew that he had to. "Eh….Allison….."

Stevie cleared her throat determined to help her mother rather than focus on anything that could be going on with Harrison. "Allison squealed like a little girl when the agent went into her room"

Allison sniffed her tears back understanding what her sister was trying to do.

"I did not, you were just annoyed that it was the older agent Mom sent not the young gorgeous one from last week."

"I was not!" Stevie ran out of steam and looked around to the others, Jason then took over.

"School was pretty cool yesterday Mom, we got a visit from an FBI agent, he tried to say that Area 51 didn't exist but I think he was lying."

Henry smiled at his children who through their fear were really trying to keep their mom going. However he was desperate to hear her voice again even if it was only one word.

"Elizabeth, honey, you better be close cause I'm gonna need a lot of help to control this lot. Talk to me baby" He released the button again and waited.

There was silence through the static for a few seconds until she spoke, "I'm here….we are in the car….don't know where…." She sobbed at the end which broke Henry's heart.

He needed to see her and it was clear to him that she needed them. So he spoke into the device to the one person who could get things done. "Blake, I'm giving this to Frank, get your agent to work out a place for us to meet you, top priority." He said and handed the walkie talkie to Frank.

He couldn't really make out the rest of the conversation but was relieved when Frank turned round.

"We're all going to Andrews. She will be there when we arrive in 30 minutes. You can keep talking if you want."

"Thanks Frank" Henry acknowledged the agent gratefully.

"Hear that babe, we will all see you at Andrews, we are going to have to watch Stevie with all those Airforce personnel in uniform though." He nudged his older daughter to remind her that he was joking for her Mom's benefit. Stevie smiled.

"Me, it's not me you have to watch its Allison." She added.

"Hey I object to that," Allison said indignantly and then smiled. "Anyway maybe it's Jason who will be after all the girls in uniform."

"Nah, career military! Way to serious for me," He stated, "now cheerleaders." He stared off into space.

"You are such a boy!" Stevie shouted.

"Well duh!" Jason replied.

Henry was pulled from the conversation by his phone ringing and was delighted to see that it was Elizabeth calling it would be so much easier than using the older device.

"Hey baby." He answered softly and indicated to the kids to hand back the walkie talkie to Frank, then put the phone on speaker.

"Dr McCord, the Secretary is here and you are all helping, I'm handing her the phone and you are not on speaker at this end." Blake said succinctly before Henry could say anything that would embarrass all of them.

"Hi Mom" three voices chimed together, they all knew they were putting on an act but had no idea what else to do.

"Hi." Her voice was quiet, but Henry knew he had to push her through this or the attack could get infinitely worse.

"Talk to me babe, what happened?"

"There was a bomb…the office."

"Yeah, Stevie saw on the internet, is everyone ok?"

"Eh….yes I think so…"

"Good, so you all got out….Blake said you were in the car when it happened?"

He could hear her sobbing, "Don't let it overtake you baby, stay with me. Were you in the car?"

"Yes, the noise….it was…."

"Just like Iran, I know honey, you can do this, don't hold it in, it only makes it worse."

"Oh Henry, I was back there…all over again.."

"It's ok Mom, your safe, and we're safe, everything is ok." Allison added to the conversation.

"Yeah Mom, we will be there real soon" Stevie said.

They could all hear Elizabeth breathing in the background of the call. "That's it sweetheart keep breathing, nice and slow, you can get through this. Is there anything else?"

"Being in a car…..it was just like…" Her breathing increased.

"Ok, it's alright, you are safe, Blake's there, who else is with you?"

"Nadine…Nadine is here."

"Good that's good, you're in D.C. look around, look out the window, I know things are a little messed up but you are safe."

"Yeah…not in Iran." She sighed.

"No babe, right here in the USA and we will be with you real soon."

Henry checked out the window and recognised the scenery around Andrew's they were getting close so she must be too. She would have to have her game face on when they got there or she would need her staff to cover for her. At least on an Airforce base he assumed there wouldn't be press straight away, or they would be controlled anyway.

"Elizabeth, put Nadine on the phone." He instructed her hoping she would do what he asked.

He could hear movement and was very grateful when he heard another female voice. "Dr McCord, Nadine here."

"Nadine, I am trusting her to you, she needs you to help her through this and she will never ask for help. Control where she is, who she is talking too, in this state even something small could set her off and I will not let her be torn apart by the press when she is like this, do you understand."

"Yes Sir, you have my word, she will be looked after until you get here, Blake and I will see to it, even if she is not happy with us.

"Thank you, we are almost there so I assume you can't be too far ahead or behind us."

"We just reached the check point, there are serious security measures so I assume the first family is here already." Nadine stated.

Stevie gasped and smiled but couldn't help speaking, "They got them out? Before the bomb at the White House?" She asked.

There was total silence on the other end, clearly this was news to Nadine and Henry prayed that Elizabeth hadn't heard Stevie's question.

"We'll see you soon Sir, I need to get up to date." Nadine hung up the phone and Henry laid his head back waiting to join his wife in the base.

 **AN: Thanks for reading, there will be more over the weekend. Will be great to hear what you think so far.**


	5. Calm before the storm

Chapter 4

 _ **AN:**_ _Here is the next chapter. I am beyond excited that Madam Secretary season 2 is coming to the UK next week; however that won't change this story so please remember it comes at the end of season 1._ _Thanks for all the reviews and comments. I really appreciate them._

"What's wrong?" Elizabeth asked Nadine as she ended the call with her family.

Nadine didn't know what to say. Her boss would have to know this information but they had only just got her calmed down. She paused for too long and Elizabeth spoke again.

"Tell me Nadine, I know I'm not in a good state but I would rather you tell me here than someone else does out there."

"The second explosion we heard was at the White House, your daughter told me when I told her that the family might be here."

"Oh my God" Elizabeth was stunned. She looked at Blake, "Call Daisy and Matt in their car, I want to know everything that is on the news. Then get me Russell Jackson so I can get the real story."

"Yes Ma'am." Blake answered as he dialled the familiar number of their colleagues.

"Daisy, message from M'Sec, she needs a briefing on everything the internet and news networks have on the incidents tonight." Blake ended the call before Daisy could suggest anything putting their boss in a press conference.

Blake rang Jackson's number, who answered succinctly, "Jackson."

"Sir I have Secretary McCord for you." Blake stated and handed the phone to Elizabeth who took a deep breath and started to speak.

Elizabeth took a deep breath, she needed to push through this and the first thing was to get confirmation on the situation with the President. "Russell, I assume the President and first family are safe?" She decided to err on the side of positive as the other option was unthinkable.

"Yeah we moved them right after the briefing ended, although I gotta say that I didn't expect them to get the White House."

"Are you here at Andrew's?"

"Yes we are setting up in a hanger, the Secret Service are doing a thorough sweep now. We have also taken a barrack block, it's early and most people here have not slept in a while."

"We are just going through security now." Elizabeth said, her breathing coming easier now that her attack was fading.

"Good meet with us when you are ready, the guards have been briefed to direct everyone to the barracks, get them assigned and then allow them to the hangar."

"My family are coming." Elizabeth stated.

There was a pause, "It that really a good idea?"

"Russell, you were at the briefing, yes the threat to family was unsubstantiated but considering my office just got bombed I don't think it was over the top to get my family to a safe location." Elizabeth felt totally justified in her decision and she was not going to let Jackson derail her.

"Did they at least get out without the press seeing, the last thing we need is to cause a panic."

Elizabeth took a fortifying breath, sometimes this guy really annoyed her.

"Russell, given the White House was just attacked I suspect there will enough panic. I think most of the press core will be focussed on the two bombs that have gone off rather than if my family was moved in the middle of the night."

"Very well, I'll let the commander here know to arrange several rooms for you."

"Thank you, now what more do you know about this since the last time we spoke."

"Eh…..that's the problem Elizabeth, we know nothing, we don't know what the threat is or where it might strike again."

"Nothing! That is impossible." The car began moving again and she really needed to see her family to check they were ok. "Russell, we are moving again, let me get my staff set up, they had all the office files backed up but it will take time before we have contact with the rest of the State department personnel."

"We have sectioned off the hangar, the West Wing staff are on route, well those who are able."

"Had you evacuated?" She asked quietly.

"Not enough."

"How many?"

"No details yet, the security guys were doing a sweep and some staff hadn't left for the night yet, we are expecting casualties."

"Ma'am we have arrived." The agent in the front of her vehicle butted in to the conversation.

"Russell, keep me in the loop, I will be in the hangar when I get my family set up, they are right behind us."

"Elizabeth….I'm glad you got out safely." Russell added with emotion in his voice.

Elizabeth was caught off guard a little, then realised that Russell was a human too and he had showed her kindness at times. "Me too, for you." She replied and hung up the phone ready to face the next thing.

Blake waited until the call was ended and he had the signal from his boss before moving.

Elizabeth cleared her throat and made to move off the seat. Before she let the door be opened she spoke to her two trusted advisors. "Nadine, make sure that all the staff have a room in the barracks that the commander has set up. Blake get yourself organised then check the area set up for my family. Get Matt and Daisy to get set up in the hangar but let Jay get his family settled before bothering him."

"Yes Ma'am" they both said.

The agent opened the door for Elizabeth and she stood out of the car, grateful that there seemed to be no prying eyes of the press and she could spend a few minutes calming down completely. It always amazed her when she had the attacks that fresh air could be so comforting, although this was the worst attack she had experienced since ending up in the hospital. She also realised at that moment that she didn't have her medication. She hoped that Henry had some, although she had never taken any, they did help her to calm down by just being there.

"Madam Secretary, if you could follow me please." An officer appeared at the side of the car and pointed to the barracks building.

"Major, do you have rooms for my staff?" Elizabeth asked the man indicating to the small group who had gathered around her.

"Yes ma'am the State Department has been given the third floor of the barracks, there are more than enough room for you all."

"And my family?"

"Yes Ma'am I have just sent word to the gate to have them directed here, they have just arrived."

"I'd like to wait for them before going in but please see that my staff are settled."

"Very good Ma'am." The major looked around at the staff, several of whom looked fairly petrified, the younger ones in particular. He quickly locked eyes with Nadine, sensing she was in charge. A brief nod from the older woman confirmed that fact.

"If you folks would like to follow me, we will get your accommodations organised." He looked between Matt, Jay and Blake. "Eh….Mr Whitman" Jay waved briefly to the officer to indicate who he was, "your family arrived about 10 minutes ago, they are already in the barracks."

"Thanks." Jay replied, his relief at knowing they were safe was obvious. The small group followed the officer and Elizabeth was left beside her vehicle feeling quite alone. She looked around and had to allow herself a wry smile, off course she was not alone, her agents were surrounding her and the base was filled with personnel, both military and secret service.

A few minutes passed and she spotted the SUV she had sent to get her family coming across the base. She pulled her jacket tighter around her; the cold was beginning to bite. The car drew up beside her motorcade and before it stopped she saw Henry jump out of the car and run towards her. She let herself be pulled into his embrace and then felt rather than saw the children joining them.

"God I was so worried babe." Henry murmured into her hair.

"I was so scared." She whispered back.

Henry pulled her tighter and just delighted in the fact that he was holding her at a time when she may have been taken from him.

"Ma'am" Frank spoke to her from beside the vehicle he had driven up in. "It's time to get you inside." He indicated to the building and Elizabeth nodded.

"Do you have your bags?" She asked looking at her husband and children, giving them all a good look over to ensure they were safe. They nodded back and she made sure to give them each some comfort. She watched as they all went back to the car and collected their belongings, she looked to Matt, her security driver and saw that he had her bag which she gratefully took from him. Henry was quickly back at her side and she took the hand he offered her. She held it tightly and followed the kids after Frank and Matt into the barracks. She had no idea what the next few hours would bring but she would be able to focus more now that her family was beside her.

 **AN: So I was wondering if anyone would be willing to beta my Madam Secretary work, knowledge of the show and UK spelling and grammar would be fab. Can you P'M me if you are interested. Thanks.**

 **Hope to post more before the weekend, when another threat is revealed.**


	6. Small threats can still come as a shock

Chapter 5

 **So here is the next chapter, thanks to my Stargate SG1 beta for giving this a look over. Story is taking a bit of a turn here but hopefully you will all still enjoy.**

" _Threats can come in many shapes and sizes; they can be large or small."_

Stephanie McCord had just about had enough. First, she hadn't felt well in weeks but at least she knew why. And now, in the space of an hour, she'd been awoken from a sleep that had been hard to come by, had been terrified by bombs exploding that may have killed two of the people closest to her, and then she'd had to endure what seemed like a lifetime not knowing if they were alive or dead. Now, having seen for herself that her mom was okay, she needed to find Harrison. Stevie figured he'd be here, too, if his parents were but he wasn't answering her texts, even after her mom's cell phone came back on line.

Stevie followed Frank and Matt into the building with her bag and looked around the barren area. It was clearly a social area for the airmen usually stationed in the barracks. There was black and white lino on the floor, seats that had seen better days scattered around the room, and tattered-edged posters depicting how great your life could be if you joined the Airforce. Despite having huge respect for those who served in the armed forces, Stevie wasn't sure this was the best publicity for a career in the Airforce.

She scanned the area quickly. There was a huge number of people around. Some looked like they knew what they were doing while others, well, they looked pretty terrified. Stevie, being relatively tall, tried to see over the others and finally caught sight of the man she was looking for. He was looking for her just as desperately and when their eyes met she could do nothing else but run towards him and hope that he caught her when she flung herself into his arms.

Elizabeth hadn't been sure what to expect when she'd entered the barracks. What she really wanted was to find a fairly dark room, crawl into her husband's arms, and forget that she'd just had a pretty major panic attack in front of her Chief of Staff and her personal assistant. However, she knew she'd have to face some people before that could happen. The scene in front of her as she entered the room wasn't even slightly like she'd pictured it. She was initially surprised by the noise level in the room, having expected loud and unsure voices, but finding complete silence. And, if that wasn't enough, she felt rather than saw Henry stiffening beside her and, like most people, her gaze was drawn, almost in slow motion, to the scene in the middle of the room.

Elizabeth gasped, dropped her bags and Henry's hand. "Stevie!" she screeched.

However, not even her mother's voice was enough to pull Stevie from the arms and the kiss of the President's son.

"Harrison?" Dalton's voice came from the other side of the room where he was standing with his wife Lydia.

As both sets of parents converged on the centre of the room, it became apparent that the two lovers wouldn't be easily separated.

Henry, not exactly as calm as he normally was, was to be the one who did something about it. He marched over to the couple, grabbed Stevie's arm, and pulled her from the embrace she was in.

"Young lady, you made a promise to us that this was a friendship and nothing more," he said with a quiet but powerful voice, realising that they were still the centre of attention and not wanting prying ears to hear the conversation.

Stevie stood her ground. She had the same stubborn attitude as her mother and Henry, looking in her eyes, could see that this was not going to end well or quickly. "Things change," she said simply, stepping back from her father towards Harrison.

By this point the President had also joined them, unsure of the situation, but very aware that there were bigger crises to handle at this point.

Henry looked at his eldest daughter, ignoring the President's arrival. "Stevie, this is neither the time nor the place for this conversation, but you will tell your mother and I exactly what is going on between you two at some point. For now, you're coming with the family to get settled."

"No," Stevie said quietly.

"Stevie!" Elizabeth exclaimed.

"No. I'm only going if Harrison is coming, too."

"No," the President answered, used to his decisions being final. "You're both safe and here and that is enough for now. We'll discuss this later."

Harrison stepped from behind Stevie and stood up to his father. "No, it's not enough."

"For goodness sake, we have a crisis here! Do you not understand that? This isn't important right now." Dalton spoke to both of them.

However, his statement didn't have the desired effect as both Stevie and Harrison looked mad and Henry and Elizabeth simply disappointed at the tactic that POTUS has used. Before Elizabeth or Henry could use their diplomatic skills to good use, Harrison faced up to his father.

"And maybe that's been the problem all along. We're always less important than your job. Well, not anymore! And if you want to have anything to do with your grandchild then perhaps you'll start to pay attention to us."

There was silence, not a comfortable one, as many of those watching decided a little too late that the scene in the middle of the room should be a private conversation and they all tried to disappear as quickly as possible. In the middle of the room the faces of the people present showed a myriad of emotions. Stevie had her head down. She really couldn't look at her mother or, more particularly, her father. She knew they'd be shocked and probably disappointed. Harrison looked straight at his father with defiance. Dalton and his wife looked a little shell-shocked at the announcement but that was nothing compared to how Elizabeth and Henry looked.

Elizabeth decided she needed to sit down and took Henry's hand to help her to the nearest chair. She was trying very hard not to have another panic attack and, if the squeezing of her chest was anything to go on, she was losing the battle. She tried to bring her breathing under control and it was at this point that everyone else noticed the state she was in. Henry crouched beside her and Alison and Jason moved to try and comfort her. It was only when Stevie moved, desperate to calm her mother, that the standoff between Harrison and Conrad was called a truce.

"Mom, its okay." Stevie knelt beside her mother and tried to calm her fears. Her Mom had always been strong but Iran had changed that, which was why she'd told Harrison that they needed to pass on their news sensitively. She'd been afraid of this.

"Is it true?" Her mother finally got enough breath to ask the burning question. Stevie tried to look away but Elizabeth was quicker and touched her fingers to Stevie's chin to raise her eyes to hers.

Stevie could only nod, her eyes filling with tears. She was pregnant and she knew that her mom would be disappointed with her.

"And Harrison?" her mom continued. Elizabeth knew they had a bond, kids of CIA parent's often did. It was like a comfort blanket to know that someone else was going through what you were.

Again Stevie could only nod.

"I think we need to go somewhere else to discuss this," Henry began, realising that not only was this going to be a long conversation but also that his wife was close to breaking point. He stood up then continued, "Harrison, you're welcome to come with us and, for the record, you guys, our kids, are the most important people to us, but your Dad and Stevie's mom have a threat to solve and this may not be the best time for any conversations to happen." He turned around and helped Elizabeth to stand and guided his family towards the detail who were waiting to show her where the family rooms were. Henry looked to check whether Harrison was coming with them and was a little surprised when he looked to his father for permission to follow. Perhaps not all was lost yet he thought.

 **AN: Thanks for all your reviews and follows. More will come along quickly now that someone is looking over it for me. BTW, got to see season 2 episode 1 and it was fantastic, I can see why you have all been blown away by it, I assume things get even better. Thanks for reading, it would be great to know what you think but I don't hold stories hostage for reviews. More soon, I promise.**


	7. Comfort is always needed

The Threat Chapter 6

 **AN:** Thanks for the reviews, I'm glad people are enjoying this story. Here is chapter 6. Enjoy.

" _Dealing with threats can bring us together or tear us apart."_

"You're never going to believe what I just heard!" Matt declared as he walked up to Daisy and Blake, who were trying to organise their area of the hangar.

"Has someone claimed responsibility for the attacks?" asked Daisy, pen in hand, ready to write down any information pertinent to any briefing she'd be giving.

"No… better than that… think gossip!" Matt answered.

"Now?!" Blake, who'd just returned from the third floor with MSec's detail, was not impressed. "We've just seen our office blown up in a senseless attack and you're talking gossip?"

Matt had the decency to look a little sheepish. "Okay… not the right time, I know that," he said as he looked at Blake, then turned to address Daisy. "But if I don't tell you and a reporter asks you about it then you'll look unprepared and I don't want that."

Daisy sighed. Whatever it was, she suspected that any serious news reporter wouldn't care while everything else was going on, but you could never tell in her job. She nodded for him to continue.

"Well, I got this from a White House staffer who was in the barracks when the Secretary and her family came in. Apparently, daughter number one ran straight up to Harrison Dalton, kissed him like there was no tomorrow, and he then announced that the parents were all going to be grandparents!"

"Are you serious?" Daisy asked.

"As a heart attack. The place went quiet and out of loyalty to the President they all left the room. So, unless he was lying to his father, then yeah, MSec is going to be granny and the President a papa."

"She's not going to like that," Blake stated.

"Who isn't going to like what?" Nadine asked as she came over, hearing Blake's comment.

Blake promptly went red and got the nervous twitch he always got whenever he was caught out doing something he shouldn't. Nadine stared at him a little too long and he caved. "Ask Matt, he's the one in the know."

"Well?" Nadine asked as she turned from one man to the other.

Matt cleared his throat. Nadine probably should know anyway so he might as well tell her. The other white house staff were clearly discussing the situation anyway. "It seems the Secretary's daughter is pregnant by the President's son."

Nadine was aware that her staff had been gossiping with each other but she hadn't been prepared for that announcement. However, she was always aware of her place as being elevated from the young ones and she took a breath before speaking. "If that's the case then the entire family's going to need our support and help in the next few months. That is, assuming we all get through this current crisis. Now, would it be too much to ask for you to all go back to your work?" She looked at each in turn. "Daisy, the White House Press Secretary is planning a briefing in an hour and would like you to be there. Matt, the Secretary's going to need some talking points about the bomb at the office and the damage there, so check with our security people for some details. Blake, I suggest you go back upstairs and make yourself even more indispensable to the Secretary and her family. By the sound of it you're going to be needed. Tell her I have everything under control here and to let me know if she needs anything."

The three looked a little subdued and ready to get back to work, although it was clear as they looked around that they weren't the only people who were sharing the gossip from earlier. They looked at each other before dispersing, leaving Nadine to try and bring some order to the new office space.

Blake Moran made his way up to the third floor, not looking forward to what may be happening there. He knew that as the Secretary's personal assistant he'd be in the awkward position of being in her personal life more than either of them would want. He'd visited her home to collect clothes, looked after her children, seen her at her weakest and her strongest and, for the most part, never addressed the fact that he was actually witnessing it. Of course, on occasion topics needed to be discussed, like Jason's ankle, for example, but normally they both just existed in a world where it was possible he'd see her changing one minute and then help her show just how great a secretary she was the next. Now he was potentially walking in to a minefield. She'd been in quite a state in the car and it had only been a cell phone link to her husband and kids that had stopped Blake from telling the detail to head to George Washington hospital. He knew that this information would hit the Secretary hard. No one at her age wanted to be a grandparent, especially when all of your children were still in fulltime education. Secondly, there was the 'father' to consider. Blake had overheard enough conversations to know that Harrison Dalton was fighting some serious addiction demons and Blake knew that the Secretary would be very concerned that the relationship between Stevie and Harrison had developed so much, too quickly. He reached the level, nodded to the DS agent on the door and went through, wishing he had some kind of body armour.

Elizabeth had made it to the room allocated to her and Henry but no further. The panic attack that she'd hoped was done, wasn't diminishing. She was sitting on the end of the bed with Stevie sobbing in her arms, trying to apologise, and Elizabeth wasn't sure how much more she could take. Henry had taken Allison and Jason to their room and promised to be back very soon. She had no idea where Harrison was and right at the moment was okay with that. Stevie was curled up in a ball and Elizabeth decided that if she didn't take some control of the situation they'd both need to be hospitalised.

She cleared her throat to speak. "How?" was the only word she could get out.

Stevie tried to pull herself together and sat up to face her mom. "It was after the hearing. I was scared you were going to jail and I invited him over and it just… happened."

"Stevie, we've talked about this before. What about protection?"

"We did, Mom, I swear!" Stevie started sobbing even more.

"Okay, okay… Calm down, it'll be okay." Elizabeth hugged her daughter and wiped her hair from her face. It only took a few minutes for Stevie to sob herself to sleep and Elizabeth was left holding her firstborn, pretty terrified about the fact that Stevie would soon have a firstborn, too.

Henry entered the room and walked over to the bed, gently sitting down behind Stevie and carefully hugging her, too, trying not to wake her. He looked at Elizabeth over their daughter's head and tried to comfort both of them without saying anything. As the minutes went by he could see that Elizabeth was calming down and he hoped that her panic attack was behind her. Stevie awoke shortly after that and looked at both her parents, hoping that everything had been a dream, but that wasn't to be.

Henry knew that they all needed to talk but he thought that it could wait, given Stevie's emotional state, so he just smiled, trying to reassure her. "Harrison's outside. He said to say that if you need him he'll come in but he thought you'd want to speak to us alone."

Stevie nodded, quite content lying where she was. She was falling in love with Harrison and wanted him to be a part of this but for now she was happy with her parents accepting her because she'd been so worried that they might send her away.

Henry looked from Stevie to Elizabeth. "Oh, and Blake is also outside, wondering if you need anything. I suspect that means that Harrison's announcement has gone viral around your staff."

"That's okay," Elizabeth said. "Like you said downstairs, right now Stevie's more important than anything else."

"You have to go and see what's going on," Stevie said in a quiet voice from between them.

"Perhaps, but first I need to know that you're okay," Elizabeth said, rubbing her hand up and down her daughter's arm.

"I'm not okay, but I understand that my problems can be dealt with after you work out what's going on in the world tonight."

Elizabeth sighed. This was the part of her job that she really hated because Stevie was absolutely right. Her problem could wait. The threat to the world could not. "Okay." She leaned down and kissed Stevie's forehead. "I love you and we're going to help you through this, but I need to go."

"Babe, are you okay?" Henry asked his wife quietly.

"My chest feels better but I know I need to keep calm. I'm going to speak to Blake then check in with my staff and the President. I'll be back up soon, I promise."

"You have an hour, Liz. If you don't check in before then I'm coming to find you."

"Yes, Sir, Captain," Elizabeth said as she cheekily saluted her husband, although she knew that he fully meant his threat.

"Don't go there, Liz. You're in my territory now. One word to that Major and he'll let me kidnap you and fly you anywhere."

"Don't worry, I promise I'll be back." Elizabeth leaned over and gave both her husband and daughter a quick kiss before disentangling herself from their arms and heading towards the door.

 **AN: Thanks for reading, I hope to get another chapter up at the weekend. Thanks again to my beta who looked over this one.**


	8. Threats to other nations

Chapter 7

Here is the next chapter, and the threats keep piling up. Thanks to my beta for all the hard work today. Hope you all enjoy.

 _"Threats can be made to huge states and can be attacking whole nations."_

Elizabeth opened the door and found Harrison on one side, Blake on the other, with Allison and Jason directly in front of her.

"Right, one thing at a time," she said to no one in particular, then turned to each one as she spoke to them. "Harrison, this is quite an issue you've dropped on us tonight and we need to all talk about it, but right now Stevie needs to rest. Go find your mom, take care of her, and you can see Stevie in a couple of hours."

Harrison nodded, glimpsing Stevie curled on the bed being comforted by her dad, and walked away.

"Ali, Jason, you can go in but I meant what I said. Your sister needs rest, so do we all. Just let your dad know where you are if you go somewhere else, okay? Don't just go off on your own." She bent over and kissed them both on the head and then began to walk away, knowing that Blake would follow her.

Just as they reached the top of the stairs she turned to check that her assistant was with her. "So, what's the fallout from all this, Blake?"

"Uh… well, Ma'am, they weren't exactly quiet when they made their little announcement. Matt heard it from one of the presidential staffers and told us that he felt that Daisy should know in case the press brought it up."

Elizabeth looked up at him. "Were they downstairs?" That thought freaked her out a little bit. It wasn't just the announcement, it was the panic attack she would've been seen having.

"No, ma'am, they're in another building. But you know how news travels in this town."

Elizabeth nodded. "Yes, but at least there won't be any pictures to go along with the story. That's a small mercy at least."

Blake nodded in agreement.

"Right, Blake, my daughter's personal troubles can wait. What developments do we have on the events of tonight?"

They started walking down the stairs towards the area given to her department, shadowed by Elizabeth's detail.

Blake decided that the succinct approach was best and he related to her what he'd been messaged while waiting outside her room. "Well, Ma'am, Nadine's contacted all the main staff who aren't here by email and explained the situation to them and told them to remain at home until we need them. Matt spoke to the DS detail about the office, and all civilian personnel were evacuated in time. We were lucky it was during the night. However, two security guards were caught in the blast. One is serious at GW, the other only has a minor injury. Unfortunately, the White House wasn't as lucky. The President's Chief Communications Director has been killed and several of his staff are in a critical condition. There were also several secret service agents seriously injured, most with life-changing injuries. Daisy and the White House Press Secretary are doing a briefing for the morning shows."

They walked into the building where her staff was set up and Elizabeth was immediately accosted by Nadine, Daisy and Matt.

"Madam Secretary, is everything okay?" Nadine asked and Elizabeth looked at her. She knew she wasn't just asking about Stevie but about her panic attack in the car.

Elizabeth smiled at her Chief of Staff. "For the moment, Nadine, yes, everything's okay, but I'll be going back upstairs shortly."

"Very good, Ma'am." Nadine began leading Elizabeth further into the room with the other three following behind. "The President and Mr Jackson asked to be informed when you came down. They're at the far end of the hanger with the President's staff. There have been confirmed terrorist attacks in London, Berlin and here. No group has claimed responsibility yet, however it seems likely that the attacks were coordinated. The National Security advisor is waiting to brief you and the President as soon as possible."

"Good. Check with our embassies and tell them to increase security in any vulnerable areas. Allow all non-essential personnel to be brought home if they wish and check that the ambassadors have everything they need."

Elizabeth stopped walking and turned to face her senior staff. "We have no idea what's going on here, people. There could be multiple attacks waiting to happen. The FBI and Homeland Security will be dealing with the attacks here it's our job to ensure our staff are safe and that we help all American citizens who are caught up in this, wherever they are."

"Yes, Ma'am," all four responded together.

"Nadine, I'm going to find the President. Get me our UK ambassador, then the German one. I want to hear for myself that everything's okay over there. Matt, Daisy, liaise with the White House about putting out a statement about the guards who were injured, then find out everything you can about them. I want to be able to talk to their families when I get back."

"Yes, Ma'am," all three replied before turning and quickly heading off to do what they'd been instructed to do.

Elizabeth turned to her detail. "Frank, let's go find the President. We can sort out any security detail issues when we get there.

The two headed to the far end of the huge hangar, where the number of security detail alone would tell anyone that the President was in this area of the building. She nodded to several agents whom she knew, Frank did the same, and they were allowed through the divider screens that surrounded the area that had been set up for the President.

"Elizabeth, thank you for joining us," President Dalton said from the end of a long table. "Let's sit. Can we have the room, people?" Many of his staff filed away, leaving the President, Jackson, Admiral Hill, several other high ranking officers, the Secretary of Defence, and the head of the National Security Agency, Darren. "Right, fill us in," Dalton said as they all took their seats.

Darren, cleared his throat and began to speak. "Sir, as you are aware, several hours ago we were alerted to an immediate threat to the country and we were advised of a direct threat to the State Department. We have since been made aware of attacks first in the UK and then in Germany, followed by the attacks here. The attacks on both the White House and the UK parliament were suicide bombers, although they weren't carrying enough to cause extreme damage, just enough to kill themselves and cause limited structural damage. Of course, that didn't stop several casualties, Sir. The other attacks, at the State Department and in Germany, seem to be packages sent to the buildings."

"How did they get through the postal search?" Elizabeth asked.

"Unsure at this time, Ma'am. The only obvious way would be to turn a postal worker but that cannot be confirmed at this time." Darren turned to the President. "Fifteen minutes ago there was a message sent to the White House communications office. It contains a video that you should see, Sir." He pushed a laptop in front of the President and several people, including Elizabeth, gathered around to watch.

The screen turned from black to a split of three different people, one with the Lincoln Memorial in the background, the next with what looked like a Mediterranean villa, and the third with Uluru in Australia. The people looked to all intents and purposes like tourists. In both the D.C. and Australian ones there were even others walking around behind them.

The first man began to speak. "To those who wish to find the cause of these attacks, you need look no further than your own doorsteps. It's been your policies that have led us to these actions."

The second began to speak. "We are now the many and you are the few. This is just the beginning."

Finally the third person spoke. "It is now your turn to be afraid, to not know when someone close to you could be killed. Until later, Mr President."

The screen went black again.

The President was the only one to speak. "What do we know about this video?"

"Not much, Sir. We've traced its origins to Spain but no more than that. It's being pinged all over the world and it was just a bit of luck that got us that much information. The men are, as you can see, of varying nationalities and ethnicities and do not have any common markers. The concern is obviously the placing of the people. It would appear that there is a cell in D.C. but the other locations are a little strange. Both Spain, where that villa is, and Australia are not big players when it comes to terrorism in the world so we're a little in the dark about that."

"But they do have internal issues that have occasionally resulted in terrorism. The Madrid train bombings come to mind and in Australia there are rumours of training facilities for terrorists. Perhaps that's what's behind it?" Elizabeth voiced.

There was a sudden noise of phones ringing around the hangar, including around the table, and one of the officers went to answer the landline beside the President. He listened then turned to the small television on the wall and switched it on. Having just seen the clips, no one around the table was surprised to see news outlets reporting an explosion in Canberra, Australia, and a similar one in Madrid. What was of most concern to Elizabeth, however, was that she recognised both locations from her early briefings when she'd taken the job. They were the American embassies in both those countries.

"They hit the embassies," she said quietly.

 **AN: So the plot thickens. Thanks for reading and taking an interest in this story. I am really enjoying hearing from reviewers and other authors. Thanks for making me feel at home. More to come during the week.**


	9. Threats can be devestating

Chapter 8

 **AN: Thanks for the continued support with this story. A guest reviewer seemed to have a slight issue with where the bombs went off in chapter 7. Just to clarify things, one was in Madrid, the capital of Spain and one in the city of Canberra in Australia (the capital of Australia and the capital of ACT), both at the US embassies, which are in these cities. Hopefully that makes it easier to understand. This chapter sees a new threat taking hold and I hope no-one finds it too distressing. At the moment this is rated T, I may have to increase that to M before the end of the story, just to give you a warning.**

Elizabeth struggled to take her eyes from the TV screen that showed the buildings with clear structural damage and huge flames erupting from the windows. However, her gaze was drawn to the space just outside the makeshift barriers, where she could see a group of secret service agents in heated discussion. One burst from the group and entered the area that had been set up as the President's temporary office.

"Mr President," he said first in acknowledgement, before turning to Elizabeth. "Madam Secretary, your assistant is out here. He says it's urgent."

Elizabeth looked over at the President. "Mr President..." She indicated to the screens, behind which she could now make out Blake, almost bouncing on his feet.

"Go. We'll update you as soon as we get more information." Dalton pointed to the small TV screen.

Elizabeth walked over to Blake and was quite surprised when he immediately put his arm around her back and urged her to walk with him across the hangar. "Blake, what's going on?"

"Ma'am, you need to come with me. Dr McCord called down. Stevie's on her way to the base hospital. There's something wrong with her."

"What?!" Elizabeth began to run towards the other door but spotted Nadine heading her way. She wasn't a doctor, there was nothing she could do to help Stevie right now, but she was Secretary of State and those were her people caught up in the explosions and they needed her, too.

"Nadine, they just blew up our embassies in Spain and Australia."

"I know, Ma'am. We just received word. I was coming to see what you wanted the staff to do."

"Get on the phone, coordinate with DOD, and get me some protection for our people. Use whatever's needed. Air force, navy, I don't care."

"Yes, Ma'am."

"Keep me informed on all casualty information and get Isabelle on the phone and find out what the CIA know. Did you get the ambassadors from London and Berlin on the phone?"

"Yes, Ma'am. Both confirmed that the embassies there weren't the targets and the incidents were being handled by the British and German security services. I'll get in touch with them again. Now that we have these other attacks, we need to ensure there won't be any secondary attacks in London and Berlin, especially if they're now directly targetting American embassy buildings.

"Agreed. Get on it. Keep me apprised as soon as you have any news but right now I need to go and see Stevie."

Nadine turned to leave and Elizabeth put a hand on her arm, stopping her. "Nadine, there's the possibility of many State department casualties. I know you have connections all over the world, so take time to check that your friends are safe."

"Thank you, Ma'am." Nadine managed a small smile before turning and heading back to the area assigned to her office.

Elizabeth turned towards Frank. "Frank, get your guys on your earwig. I want to know what the hell's going on with my daughter." She began running out of the hangar, waiting for Frank to tell her if she was going to her room or somewhere else.

"Ma'am, they have her in the medical clinic, on the edge of the base." Frank came up behind her to guide her to the waiting vehicle.

It was a short journey to the large medical centre and Elizabeth was grateful that they were this close to a state-of-the-art hospital. She jumped from the vehicle almost before it had stopped, definitely before her detail, and ran into the building. They were waiting for her and a young lieutenant guided her to the elevator with Frank close behind her. The nurse wouldn't tell her anything, simply guiding her to the correct floor, and when the doors opened she was shocked to see the state Henry was in. He looked awful and to her dismay his sweats were covered in blood.

"What happened? Where is she? I want to see her." The panic was rising in Elizabeth's chest and she looked desperately at her husband, demanding answers. Despite the equally desperate look in his own eyes, Henry managed to guide her to the small seating area. Once they were both seated, Henry took Elizabeth's hands in his, both gaining strength from each other.

"Elizabeth, she's in surgery. The nurse said we have to wait here until the doctor comes out to talk to us."

"What happened?"

"She was in lots of pain, started screaming, and then there was blood all over her clothes. I got the detail and they had her brought here. I don't know, but I think…" Henry stopped, unable to continue. He simply squeezed Elizabeth's hands.

Elizabeth took a deep breath before saying hesitantly, "She's... she's having a miscarriage, isn't she?"

"Yeah, I think she could be."

Elizabeth suddenly sat up straight, never taking her eyes from Henry's. "We need to tell Harrison."

"Don't worry, I got Carl to call his detail before we left. They're bringing him here."

"Good. Have you spoken to the doctor?"

"Not yet, they only just took her away. God, she was so pale. I couldn't help her, my little girl. She was in so much pain." Henry put his head in his hands.

Elizabeth sat beside him, trying to comfort him, when it was often the other way around. She didn't do inactivity well. She was desperate for information from the doctor, desperate to know if her people had survived the latest attacks, and wanted more than anything to take away her daughter's pain.

Turning back to Henry, Elizabeth took a deep breath to try and get her emotions back under control and then gently pulled Henry's hands away from his face and held them once more, needing the comforting touch. "Are Jason and Alison back in the barracks?"

Henry lifted his head and thought for a moment. "Yeah, they should be. Allison saw us leaving. I tried to calm her down but we were in such a rush. We should try to speak with them." He looked around, unsure how to do that.

Fortunately, his wife's detail took over. Frank nodded to them both and then spoke into his mike. "Matt, can you confirm the location on MSec's children?" He only had to wait a few moments for a response. He cocked his head slightly as he listened then turned to Henry and Elizabeth. "Ma'am, the children are safe. They're waiting in the barracks." He listened once again before adding, "Harrison's downstairs and is asking permission to come in."

"Thanks, Frank. Let him come up. He should be here," Elizabeth replied.

Harrison arrived quickly, looking as scared as Elizabeth and Henry. "What happened? Where is she?" He rushed about the room, demanding attention from everyone, his eyes darting from the detail to Elizabeth and back again, looking for answers.

Henry stood up to get Harrison's attention. "Harrison, calm down. Stevie's in surgery. We don't know what's going on but…" he ran out of steam.

Elizabeth rose and stood beside her husband. She looked compassionately at Harrison and then said quietly, "Harrison, you should prepare yourself that Stevie has probably had a miscarriage."

"No, no… she can't have… we were so…happy…..we planned…." Harrison's emotions began to get the better of him and he backed away from Henry and Elizabeth, the hurt and disbelief evident on his face.

Before Elizabeth or Henry could stop him, Harrison left and ran away from the medical centre.

Elizabeth turned to her head agent. "Frank, make sure his detail have him. The last thing we need is for him to get into trouble."

Almost thirty minutes passed with no word about what was going on with Stevie. More of Elizabeth's detail gathered around them and Blake arrived to offer assistance and to inform her about what was going on in the outside world.

Finally, the doctor came out to see them. "Mr and Mrs McCord?"

"Yes," they both replied, jumping up from their seats.

"Please, follow me. We'll go somewhere where we can talk privately."

Elizabeth looked around at the waiting area, empty apart from her personal assistant and her protection detail. "You can talk here, doctor. These people will find out what's going on, anyway."

"Very well. Let's go and sit down." The young doctor ushered them back to the seats they'd just vacated. Once they were all seated he began his explanation. "Stephanie's very lucky. If she hadn't gotten medical attention as quickly as she did, we may've been having a very different conversation. Stephanie's suffered an ectopic pregnancy... Do you know what that is?"

"Yes, uh…" Elizabeth said quietly, "I had one before Stevie was born."

"Well, that'll make things a lot easier when supporting her. She's lost the baby but we've managed to save her fallopian tube and her uterus. She'll be in pain for a while but there's no reason to suggest she won't be able to have a normal pregnancy and carry a baby to full term in the future."

Elizabeth felt like a weight had been taken off her shoulders. "Thank you, Doctor."

Henry stood up, anxious to see his daughter. "When can we see her?"

"Soon. She's in recovery now." The doctor gave Elizabeth a reassuring smile and then got to his feet. "Someone will come and get you when she's settled and can have visitors."

"Thank you, Doctor," Henry said, shaking his hand.

The doctor looked at them for a moment. "Ma'am, Sir, if I may, could I suggest you find her a counsellor to talk to? This has the potential to change her life."

"Yes, we will, thank you." Elizabeth sat back and watched the doctor leave. She felt Henry grab her hand.

He gave her hand a gentle squeeze then whispered, "She's going to be fine."

"Yes, but she's going to need help with this."

"Yeah, but like the doctor said, we've been through this ourselves, so we'll be able to help her through it."

Elizabeth nodded, her eyes filling with tears. Her mind took her back to the horrific experiences she'd had, first with an ectopic pregnancy early in their marriage, and then with just a 'regular' miscarriage. She could still remember her revulsion when the doctor had referred to it as that.

"We can help her, babe. We just need to make sure that she talks about it."

"Yes, I know." Elizabeth sighed, torn between her child and her job. "But I'm going to need to go back to work soon."

Blake cleared his throat beside her. "Ma'am, Nadine said to tell you that everything's under control. They've secured all embassies with the help of the DOD and are deploying troops from naval air carriers in the Mediterranean and in Indonesia. Until we get some intel on who's behind the attacks, there's nothing much more you can do. Stevie needs you, Ma'am, and you need to be here. Nadine has it under control. She'll call if you need to go back to the hanger."

Elizabeth smiled, relieved at her team's efficiency. "Thank you, Blake. Could you contact the President and explain the situation here, tell him to contact me if he needs me?"

"Will do, Ma'am. I'll go back to the hangar now. Give Stevie my best."

"Thanks, Blake." Elizabeth turned from her personal assistant and saw a nurse coming towards them.

"Ma'am, Sir, I can take you to your daughter now."

Elizabeth held out her hand for Henry to take. In the space of a few hours they'd found and lost a grandchild, and now needed to ensure that their daughter survived this personal crisis, while she tried to help the President deal with the national one. However, for now she was simply a mother, desperate to help her daughter with the pain she knew she was feeling.

 **AN: I hope this has not disturbed anyone too much. Let me know what you think. Thanks for reading.**


	10. More and more threats

Chapter 9

 **AN: So here is the next chapter, thanks for all the support for this story, I really enjoy hearing from other fans of the show. So on we go with this tale, the threats just keep coming.**

 _"Threats can be against nations and need to be dealt with"_

President Conrad Dalton had faced many crises in his career, both in the CIA and as President, but this had to top them all. Coordinated attacks in five capital cities in the one day. However, the biggest problem seemed to be the unusual lack of information.

Having received no warning, the CIA had been caught out and, no matter how good they were, they were now playing catch up. They'd been in touch with the security services of the various other countries involved and all their investigations were still in their early stages. Scotland Yard and MI5 in the UK were the furthest ahead, having already discovered the identity of the suicide bomber - worryingly a vetted guard at the Houses of Parliament - and were now attempting to follow his trail to the other attackers. There had been no further message in the hour since the clips had been sent but Dalton could see an escalating threat when it was in front of him. It was as if they were all waiting for the other shoe to drop.

The phone rang again in the corner and Dalton watched as his aide answered it. Then he realised that something had happened simply by the look on his aide's face.

"Uh… Sir… that was Mr Moran from the Secretary of State's office. He said to inform you that Stephanie McCord is in the medical centre. She... uh… she's had a miscarriage. Apparently Harrison has taken the news badly."

"Oh, God. Is she okay?"

"She's coming out of surgery now, Sir, but Mr Moran said that the Secretary was concerned about your son. He left when he heard the news and she feels you should be made aware of it."

"Fine. Contact his detail, check they have him. If he isn't with them then we need to find him."

"Sir!" Russell Jackson made his way into the President's screened-off area.

"What is it, Russell?" Conrad hoped he'd come with some news of the attacks and not with yet another problem.

"The terrorists just sent a warning by email. No clips this time, just the names of three cities."

"Where?"

"D.C. again, Tokyo and Moscow."

"Okay. Warn the embassies in case it's the same M.O. and let the FBI know."

"Already done. The embassies were already under increased security. The FBI have several teams of agents working on the threat but unfortunately, without more intel, at the moment there's not much we can do except wait."

"Wait! I hate waiting."

They didn't have to wait long until the phones started ringing. But what was more shocking was that they could hear an explosion in the distance but clearly somewhere close to the base.

"Damn it!" Dalton shouted. Before either had a chance to move their attention was drawn to the TV as the news broadcast that had been continuously showing news of the terrorist attacks around the world shot to a live view of a report from the centre of D.C., where the Lincoln Memorial was no more.

"We need to get ahead of this." Conrad turned from Russell to an aide who was standing close by. "Get me the heads of the FBI and CIA on the phone now!"

"Yes, Sir," the aide responded before turning and quickly leaving.

Dalton turned to another staff member who'd just hung up the phone. "What happened in the other cities?"

"Same as before, Sir. They targeted the embassies. But neither has any real damage as the terrorists were stopped before they could get inside. Only the gate area has been damaged in both embassies."

"Any casualties?"

"No figures as yet, Sir."

"Get the National Security Advisor. I need to see him immediately."

"Yes, Sir."

Just then Admiral Hill, Chairwoman of the Joint Chiefs, walked into the hangar with her staff. "Mr President, we have some information you should see. They've just uploaded three more clips." She set down a laptop, opened it, and started playing the clips that had been uploaded. They were similar to the previous ones. Again there were three men, the one in the first clip was the same man they'd seen in the first D.C. clip. He wasn't in the same place but you could still see the Lincoln Memorial in the background, now lit in the early dawn. They all watched as the terrorist began speaking.

"Mr President, it is time to say goodbye to a National treasure." As the terrorist spoke he pressed a hand-held trigger and the Memorial could be seen exploding before the screen went black.

The second clip began before anyone had the chance to say anything. This second man wasn't dressed as a tourist but could be clearly seen to be wearing an explosive-filled vest with a trigger in his hand. He wasn't either of the men that had been in Spain or Australia. He wasted no time and immediately began speaking.

"Your ability to police the world is coming to an end," he stated and then blew himself up. Although most people in the room were hardened military or professional operatives, there was still a gasp at what they were seeing. Everyone had been so focussed on the terrorist and it had all happened so quickly that they hadn't had the chance to work out where it had taken place.

Dalton cleared his throat. "Where?" he asked Admiral Hill.

"That one was in Moscow, Sir," she answered quietly.

The third clip sprang to life, this one beginning with a close up of the name of a building. Everyone could clearly see "United States Embassy - Tokyo". The view then panned out until they could see a close up of the third terrorist, who immediately began speaking.

"You'll never catch us. We are everywhere," the man stated before a bomb exploded behind him at the gate to the Tokyo embassy.

The screen went black and Dalton stared at it. "Enough of this. They're clearly toying with us. The first man was in central D.C. He filmed this only five minutes ago. Get the FBI to get onto this straight way. He should be traceable. He can't have gotten that far. Send the clips to the authorities in Tokyo and Moscow. They need to get onto this, too. There's a chance they could catch the attacker in Tokyo given the central location of the embassy, although it'd be difficult with the crowds and the mass panic after that explosion."

It was another hour before Hill was able to update the President. However, much to Conrad's delight, this time she actually had some information that could break the case.

Ellen Hill quickly summarised the situation. "Sir, we've detained the first terrorist, the one who's based in D.C. We checked street cameras and other security tapes from the area, and we got a break. The FBI used their facial recognition software and the man was traced from the Lincoln Memorial to the Washington Monument. We were lucky to get to him in time and he was arrested at the foot of the Monument. He was in the middle of making another clip."

"Good. I assume the head of the FBI is dealing with him?"

"Yes, Sir, although it's early days and he isn't talking yet. However, we had confirmation from the UK that this man is the ringleader. They accessed emails at the suicide bomber's house in Streatham in London."

They were joined around the table by Russell Jackson, Darren, the National Security Advisor, and the Secretary of Defence.

"So, do you think the group will collapse without their leader to guide them, or are plans in motion that will be continued even without him?" Dalton asked the group collectively.

There was a pause as they all looked at each other, before Russell spoke up. "That, Mr President, is the million dollar question."

"Sir," the National Security Advisor began, "There's really only one question. Have we had contact with all the terrorists? If so, then we've caught the leader and know of four others who've killed themselves in London, here at the White House, in Madrid, and now in Moscow. Assuming the one who sent the message from Spain is the one who died in Madrid, that leaves the one in Tokyo and the one in Australia. However, without confirmation that there are no more attackers, we don't know what is to come but I would speculate that if the leader was making another clip, then there are likely to be more attacks."

"Very well, coordinate with the authorities in both Japan and Australia. Tell them that we've caught the leader. If the two terrorists in those two countries set up another attack and film it happening, we may be able to catch them in the act, before they can cause any more damage or casualties. Right now we need to break their leader. Tell the head of the FBI that he's to use all legal means. And make sure State are in contact with all embassies and that they're being extra vigilant. If the new plan is to film attacks as they occur then they need to keep an eye out for any suspicious behaviour. Fill them in about these attacks and remind the embassies that we don't know how many more terrorists there are or if there are any more planned attacks."

"Yes, Sir. However, we really need the expertise of the Secretary of State."

"I'll contact her straight away..." Russell began, before he was overruled by the President.

"No, contact her Chief of Staff. Elizabeth's with her daughter at the hospital. Nadine will know what to do."

-MSEC-

Nadine put down the phone. Talking to Russell Jackson was never her favourite thing to do but she'd been given her instructions - contact their allies and advise their embassies about the latest attacks, advising them about what they now knew about the terrorist group. Well, they'd all wanted something to do, to make themselves feel useful, so she might as well start there.

"Matt, Jay, we have some calls to make."

The two men turned from the table where they'd been working and walked over to join her.

"Who are we calling?" Jay asked.

"All the embassies, all our allies, anyone we can, in particular Tokyo and Australia. They've apprehended the leader of the cell responsible so now we need to make sure we catch all the others."

"Okay, but we could do with more hands," Matt stated.

"Mr Jackson has made some White House staffers available to us. You're to bring them up to speed and then coordinate the calls. We've caught the main attacker by tracking him through surveillance video. We're to ensure that all our embassies and allies, whether they've been attacked or not, are checking similar footage."

"Seems a bit of a long shot," Matt commented.

"Perhaps, but since this comes straight from the President, we should probably follow orders, don't you think?" There were times when Nadine really got sick of some of her younger colleagues and, having not slept, been nearly blown up, and having seen her boss go through a horrific night, she felt this could be one of these times.

Nadine watched as the two men looked at each other and then back at her. She pointed to the staffers across the hangar and watched as the men walked over to them. She sighed. It had been a long night. Now she had to deal with Daisy and ensure that she ran interference for the Secretary. The news about Stephanie McCord wasn't good and they both needed to ensure that it wasn't made public. She picked up her phone. It would be easier to call Daisy as she could be anywhere with the White House press secretary.

"Daisy, I need you back here ASAP." Nadine listened carefully before adding curtly, "Well, of course it's important! If you aren't speaking to the press then I need you here." She simply ended the call and assumed that the press secretary would come. There would, of course, be hell to pay if she didn't.

 **AN: Hope you enjoyed this chapter, next chapter is back to Stevie in hospital. Not sure when I will get that up as my computer has died this weekend. To those in America I hope you enjoy the next episode if it is on tonight, me I am loving season 2. Just watched 3 episodes here and I am on the edge of my seat waiting for Wednesday night. Thanks for reading.**


	11. Threats can bring people together

Chapter 10

 **AN: Hi folks, bit slower with updates for this as I have destroyed my hard drive and it now needs to be replaced. Fortunately I managed to rescue the story. Here is chapter 10 and the bit that several reviewers asked for. I hope it doesn't upset anyone too much but is obviously dealing with a miscarriage storyline.**

Elizabeth took hold of Henry's hand as they followed the nurse down the corridor to the post-surgical room that Stevie had been moved to. Elizabeth really didn't like hospitals but in particular she didn't like feeling out of control in regards to her children. She thought of the last time one of them had been hospitalised overnight. Allison had broken her arm at a soccer game. It had been a nasty break and the doctors had wanted to monitor her. Elizabeth had paced a hole in the floor and had chewed out anyone who'd tried to keep her from her little girl. Now at least with the job she had she was getting in to see Stevie as quickly as was safely allowed.

The nurse pushed open the door and showed them to the side of Stevie's bed.

Elizabeth gasped. She hadn't really known what to expect. The last time they'd faced this issue she'd been the one in the bed and hadn't realised what she'd looked like. She felt Henry squeeze her hand but she wasn't sure whether it was to lend support or because he was in need of support himself. Most likely both. But she couldn't look away from her daughter, who looked so small and pale. Stevie was breathing by herself but was hooked up to several monitors and all Elizabeth wanted to do was to grab her and take her away from all her problems. It was irrational, and Elizabeth knew that, but her need to protect her baby was overwhelming.

Henry took Stevie's hand in his and wiped a stray piece of hair from her face. He was glad she was still alive because there'd been a point when he'd been holding her on the bed in the barracks when he hadn't been sure if she'd manage to get through this. He started whispering to her. "Hey, baby girl, you need to wake up. Your mom and I are both here and we need to see your beautiful eyes."

He was interrupted by the nurse they'd both forgotten was there. "We expect your daughter to wake soon, Sir. It's possible she'll be very upset, which is natural, so if you feel she needs a sedative or any other help, please just press the button above her bed." The nurse nodded and smiled briefly at them then turned to leave her patient with her parents.

Henry pulled a chair over to the bed so Elizabeth could sit down, glancing at the monitors next to the bed as he did so. He then moved a chair to the far side of the bed and sat down. They both picked up one of Stevie's hands and their spare hands inevitably found each other's across Stevie's body. Elizabeth started rubbing her fingers across Stevie's knuckles, encouraging her to wake up.

They were silent for a few minutes, listening to her breathing and the monitors beating with her heartbeat.

Henry looked over at Elizabeth. "I thought we'd lost her," he said quietly, clearly upset. "There was so much blood."

Elizabeth looked straight at him and squeezed his hand. "But we didn't. She's right here."

Henry blinked back tears. "I know, I just… I thought the worst I could ever feel was if I lost you, and waiting to hear about Iran nearly killed me, but this… she's a part of me and you and she could've gone. I've never felt like that, ever."

Elizabeth started to cry. She felt exactly the same. When they'd finally had Stevie it had seemed like a miracle. She was a part of both of them and had come after her first failed pregnancy. But Henry had a much closer relationship with Stevie than she'd ever had with her. Henry really was the Stevie Whisperer.

"Do you remember when this happened to us?" Henry asked quietly.

Elizabeth looked at him incredulously.

"Sorry, stupid question. We just don't talk about it a lot and I wondered…"

"I always found it easier not to think about it. When I had the ectopic pregnancy, I reasoned it'd been necessary to save me. But when I had the miscarriage, I hated the fact that my body had ended the life of my baby."

"Elizabeth, it wasn't your body's fault. It just happened."

"I know… The one I do think about, though, is the one between the girls. I was so excited to be having another baby. I wonder… I wish… maybe it's better that we didn't find out the sex but sometimes I so badly want to picture the baby and I can't.

"I dream about it a lot," Henry said quietly. "Less now, I suppose, now that the kids are grown up, but in the past I've dreamed that we had four kids, not three. You know the mind's a strange thing because in every dream I've had I don't think the fourth child has ever looked the same or had the same name."

"We kinda made an unconscious decision to put it behind us, didn't we? Do you think it was right to do that?"

Henry looked over at her. "Babe, everyone deals with these things in their own way. For us, we had a little girl whom we loved, then we were lucky enough to have another little girl, and we chose to focus on them, rather than the ones we'd lost. That's not to say that people who think about the children they've lost are wrong but it also doesn't mean that we were wrong, either."

"I did think about them," Elizabeth said quietly, almost whispering.

"I know, honey."

Elizabeth looked down at her daughter. "What do we do about Stevie?"

Henry sighed and thought about the question. "You know when you were in surgery when you had the ectopic pregnancy, there was a really nice nurse..."

"'Cute' nice or 'nice' nice?" Elizabeth jumped in, and they both smiled.

"About twice my age and 'plump' nice," Henry scolded her gently. "Anyway, she sat with me for a time when you were away and told me that there were two options in this scenario. One, the pregnancy goes too far and either the mother dies or she can't have any more kids, or two, the foetus is in the wrong place and unfortunately dies. In neither option would the baby live. But I had to make a decision. Either we lost our baby, or I lost you both. I made a choice that day and I prayed that you'd live and could still have children. And I've never regretted that choice. Stevie's going to be devastated but she's alive and the doctor believes she can still have children. I'll never regret praying the same prayer today as I did 23 years ago."

"You never told me that before. That was why you were so fantastic when I got out of hospital, wasn't it?"

"You needed to know that I didn't blame you and that I was so grateful you were still with me. Both of those thoughts meant that I could take care of you like you needed me to."

"Do you think Harrison will be the same?"

"I'm not sure. He seemed to have a lot pegged on Stevie and the baby being a new start. I hope he can accept that this has happened but, if he doesn't, she'll be our priority, like the kids have always been."

"Agreed."

Elizabeth kept stroking Stevie's hand and, letting go of Henry's hand, began rubbing Stevie's forehead like they'd both done when Stevie was little. After what seemed like hours, but was only 30 minutes or so, Stevie began to come around.

"Mom…?" Stevie whispered as she tried to open her eyes and focus on the room around her, trying to work out where she was.

"Yes, baby, your dad and I are both here."

Stevie grimaced. "Pain…" she mumbled as she looked at her mother.

Henry sat up straighter, squeezing Stevie's hand gently to get her attention. "Where does it hurt, honey?" he asked, getting ready to press the button above her bed.

"Baby..." Stevie barely managed to whisper, "What happened?"

Elizabeth gently rubbed Stevie's cheek. "Honey, I'm so sorry, but you had a miscarriage."

Stevie started sobbing. "I lost it?"

"You had an ectopic pregnancy. The baby was in the wrong place and it couldn't get any bigger there," Elizabeth tried to explain without using the words that had been said to her, 'Your body got rid of the foetus.' She'd taken a long time to get over that guilt and wouldn't put that sort of guilt on her daughter. She didn't want her to have the added suffering that she'd had.

"Am I okay?" Stevie asked in between quiet sobs, her mind quite befuddled by the events of the night.

"Yes, sweetie," Henry replied. The doctor says you'll be fine, sore for a bit, but you should make a full recovery."

"Are you happy about this?" Stevie asked belligerently, always willing to try and push her parents.

"Oh, Stevie, no. Your dad and I know exactly how this feels. You see, it happened to us, too. I know you're upset and scared but we love you and, once you're feeling ready to talk, we'll tell you everything about what happened to us and why this isn't your fault. We could never be happy that you've had to experience this."

Stevie started to really cry and Elizabeth gently got onto the bed and lay beside her, hugging her close and hoping to take some of Stevie's pain away. She watched as Henry wiped his eyes before taking one of each of their hands in his.

"Sweetheart, we're going to be with you through all of this. You can count on that," Henry stated, trying the best he could to console his daughter.

Stevie took a breath, then a quick gasp as she realised her body was in pain.

Hearing the gasp and noticing the change in her breathing, Elizabeth looked up at Henry. "I think we should call the nurse to tell them Stevie's awake and to get her some pain medication."

Henry nodded and pressed the button.

Stevie looked up from her mother's arms. "Where's Harrison?"

AN: thanks for reading, as always it would be great to hear what you think. More will come, once I work out how to get chapters onto this server without my laptop. Thanks again for the support. Having tried to work with my beta unsuccessfully this afternoon this could take awhile but most of it is written and once I have a laptop back it should be updated regularly. So sorry, at least there isn't too much of a cliff-hanger, believe me you wouldn't have wanted up to chapter 12 then a break. Catygirl.


	12. Threats need to be managed

Chapter 11

 _Hi folks, well the laptop has come back from the hospital and at the moment is working fine. Thanks to my beta for working on this when I couldn't. Hope this lives up to the wait. Thanks to all who have commented and put the story on alert, it's nice to see people wanting to read my stories. By the way some of the ones posted on the site recently have completely amazed me, I sent a review for them but just wanted to say so publically. Clearly episode 14 and 15 are fantastic, I can't wait to see them. Well on with the story, leaving Stevie and Elizabeth for a bit and looking at how the staff are managing things in Elizabeth's absence. Thanks for reading._

 __MSEC__

 _Sometimes threats need to be managed._

"Daisy!" the White House correspondent from the Washington Post screamed above all the other reporters, "What can you tell us about the attackers?" Daisy and her colleague from the White House, Brad Tiller, blinked at the flashing lights from the cameras. The noise was deafening. Although Daisy had participated in many press conferences, she hadn't felt this overwhelmed by reporters shouting at her since they'd announced Marsh's death.

Daisy took a deep breath and, knowing that this was being filmed, waved her hand to calm the crowd before she answered. "At this point we can state that there has been an organised set of attacks around the world, coordinated by a group here in the US."

The press core finally decided to return to their civilised form and Daisy pointed to a female reporter, whom she didn't know, to ask her question. "Has any group claimed responsibility?"

Brad jumped in. "Like Daisy stated, we know who is responsible, but we are not at liberty to give out any further information."

"Do you expect more attacks?" another journalist shouted out, louder than the others.

"We can't speculate further on that," Daisy quickly shot down the question. The last thing the situation needed was two press secretaries having a debate about whether there were more terrorist attacks to come.

"We are working with our allies around the world and their security services to bring the threat to an end as soon as possible," Brad added. He pointed to another reporter.

"Do you have any information on why the particular locations were chosen? Three bombs in DC, Britain, Germany, Spain, Australia, Japan, Moscow?"

"That's one area we're investigating but I can't say more than that," Brad stated.

"Reuters is reporting that there were significant casualties at the White House and several at the State Department," another reporter called out. "What details can you give us?"

Brad looked at Daisy, letting her know that he'd take this one, then took a deep breath before replying. "Unfortunately, there were casualties when the suicide bomber set off the bomb inside the White House. The attack came as a surprise and the building had not been completely evacuated. We are now able to release the names of the ten dead and fifteen injured. They are in the packs being passed around now. All the families have been contacted but we ask that you give those families privacy to deal with their loss. At the State Department there were only two casualties. One is in the ICU at GW and the other is being kept in for observation. Both seem to be through the worst."

"Has the terror level been raised?

Daisy took this one and spoke directly to the reporter as she knew him. "Dave, yes, in conjunction with our allies, the terror threat level here has been raised. In particular, there will be tightened security at all government buildings and tourist sites in D.C. following the bombings. However, there's no need to panic and people should just go about their lives as usual, and be as vigilant as always. In the world as it is at the moment we should all be aware of our surroundings at all times and, if we see anything suspicious, we should report it to the relevant authorities."

"When will the President be going back to the White House?"

Brad turned to the reporter. "We are not advertising the President's movements at this time. He is safe here and his safety will be the most important information when deciding where or when he leaves."

Daisy and Brad looked at each other and, realising they really didn't have any other information to pass on to the press, wordlessly agreed to draw the conference to a close. Daisy stepped up to the mike at the makeshift podium. "That's it for now, folks. We will be back again in a few hours with any other developments or information. If there are any more attacks we will brief you as soon as we know anything."

They walked away from the front of the small room and exited the building, heading for the hangar where both their staffs were based.

"Thanks, Daisy. Tonight's just been crazy. It was good to have someone else to help keep the gaggle under control."

"No problem," Daisy replied. She then looked around them to check that they couldn't be overhead before asking quietly, "Do you think the attacks are finished?"

"Not sure, although this has been the longest gap between them. It's now three hours since the Lincoln Memorial was hit. Look, we'll keep in touch. The press will need to be fed again in about three hours. I'll check in with the White House staff and you check in with the State Department. If either of us has any news, we can discuss it before we go in front of them again."

"Okay, sounds like a plan," Daisy agreed just as they reached the hangar. They separated to head to their own departments.

Daisy walked over to Nadine's desk to report in. Daisy had spent the majority of the night with Brad and their assistants, trying to manage the press, and had only been back once since they'd first arrived, when Nadine had called and then briefed her on the scope of the attacks and on Stephanie McCord's condition. Fortunately, that titbit of news hadn't yet reached the press, and it was her job to ensure that it didn't.

"Anything new?" Daisy asked as she made eye contact with Nadine.

"There've been no new attacks or messages. The FBI has traced the attacker in DC and, although he isn't talking, they've searched his apartment and found a huge amount of incriminating evidence. In the UK, MI5 have done the same with the residency of the attacker there. They believe there's enough to bring others in. We're awaiting news now."

"And Stevie, is there any news about her?"

"She's out of surgery and the Secretary and her husband are with her."

"She's okay, though?"

"I believe so, but our job is to ensure that no one discovers this until the Secretary wants to release the information."

"There were no questions about her at the briefing. And I don't think the press are allowed out of their building and, with her being at a military hospital, all the medical professionals work for us so are unlikely to leak the information."

"Good. Keep a lid on it."

"Yes, Ma'am." Daisy turned to leave just as Jay ran up to them.

"They caught the one in the video in Australia. He was making a film in Sydney. Looked like they were aiming for the Opera House."

"So they're not finished," Daisy stated.

"Apparently not. The police there aren't releasing any information to the press. They think it will just panic people."

"Has the President been informed?" Nadine asked.

"Not sure. Should I go?" Jay asked.

"No, I'll brief him. You get in touch with Blake. The Secretary will want to know about these developments."

Nadine left her staff and headed towards the President's area. She saw Russell Jackson so went over to him.

"Mr Jackson, we have news from Australia. They've caught another one of the attackers."

"Really? They seem to be falling like flies. The director of the FBI just broke the suspect here."

"Are there any more attacks planned?"

"Yes, there were, but we hope to get in front of it now.

Russell relayed to Nadine what he had just heard from the FBI and had already told the President. "The man arrested at the Washington Monument was in charge, although he clearly didn't believe in the cause enough to die for it. He just cut a deal in exchange for his life. He admitted to sending the bomb to the State department and said that the bomber in London was responsible for the Germany postal attack as well as the suicide bomber in London. There were a total of seven involved. Four died in the attacks, we've caught one here, one in Sydney, so that just leaves the one in Japan unaccounted for. We need to coordinate fully with Japan so that we can hopefully stop this before there are any more attacks. They know what they're looking for and, hopefully, once we've got the guy in Japan, that will be the end of it."

"That's very good news, Sir. I'll let the Secretary know."

"Before you go, how's her daughter doing?"

"She's out of surgery and has woken up, but time will tell, Sir."

"We have another situation that you could help us with, Nadine." Jackson ushered her towards the side of the hanger to ensure no one could overhear them. "We seem to have lost the first son. Could you check with the Secretary's family and see if any of them know where he is?"

"Of course, Sir. But has his detail no idea where he is?"

"No, they lost him when he left the hospital. He was in quite a state and, although we don't think he could've left the base, we really have no idea where he is. The Secret Service are reviewing all the cameras on base but, as you know, there are many blindspots where there aren't any cameras and he could have slipped through and be anywhere now."

"I'll call Blake. He can check with the Secretary at the hospital and I'll send him to the barracks to check the family rooms to see if Harrison's there with the children."

"Thanks. Oh, Nadine, I'm sure you're doing this but, given the situation with the Secretary, can you keep in close contact with the ambassadors in the countries that were attacked? We have to ensure our people are cared for and brought home if necessary."

"Yes, Sir. The Secretary gave instructions before she left and Blake has been relaying messages. We have this under control. The State Department's in good hands." Nadine, not the biggest fan of Jackson, wanted to ensure that he didn't take this opportunity to assume control of Elizabeth McCord's domain. Nadine would always protect the Secretary, especially from the President's chief of staff.

Jackson nodded then turned back to the President's section of the hanger. Nadine moved back to her desk and called Blake. She relayed the information to him that she had just received and, although he reported not seeing Harrison at the hospital, she left the situation in his capable hands. She'd be surprised if he found Harrison Dalton but at least the Secretary would have a heads up about the situation.

_MSEC_

 **So if you would like to let me know what you think that would be great. I will post more in the middle of the week, assuming technology continues to be my friend. I am wondering about the rating for the next chapter so if you would like to read chapter 12 early and give me your advice please PM me and I will share with you on the site. This can't work with guests, you need to be a member. Enjoy the episode tonight if you are in America. Thanks**


	13. One moment can change everything

Chapter 12

 **So here is chapter 12 and after discussion and advice the rating for the story has not been raised. However I am putting a warning on this chapter for content relating to a suicide attempt. If you would prefer not to read about this please don't. The chapter is not graphic but the theme is throughout.**

 _Threats can be to individuals and can destroy lives._

Allison McCord did not take threats well. She was a worrier and always had been. Months before, when the news had reported the threat of nuclear bombs, she'd been in a panic. When her mom had disappeared in Iran, she'd freaked out. Now tonight's events were simply causing her more worry than she could cope with.

From the moment the large security man had stood in her doorway, it had felt like she'd been wading through treacle. She was sluggish, couldn't fully focus, and genuinely felt that she could be experiencing her first panic attack.

Allison had managed to cheer her mom up when they'd been driving here in the SUV but had been as surprised as everyone else with Stevie's shock announcement. Her parents had always been easy to talk to and fairly modern in their outlook. Her mom had given her the 'sex' talk a few years ago and she expected Stevie'd had the same one.

 _Don't go straight in to it, be in a relationship first._  
 _Make sure the other person has feelings for you._  
 _Use protection._

From what she could gather, Stevie had broken two of the rules, but she did know for a fact that Stevie had feelings for Harrison and, if the display in the reception area was anything to go by, then he also had feelings for her. Although, of course, she couldn't really talk. She'd almost broken two of the rules when her parents had been in Venezuela. She was so grateful to her big sister for having taken him home before anything had happened so that she hadn't made that mistake then.

Allison was trying to be strong for Jason but, in reality, she wasn't doing very well. She and Jason were in the room they shared. Jason was glued to his iPad, which had finally reconnected to the outside world and he was clearly following what was being reported about the terrorist threat. Occasionally, he'd make a comment about something but it seemed obvious that the media had no real idea of what was going on and they were simply making up speculations as they went along.

Although she cared about the explosions, Allison really wanted information about Stevie, so she got up off the bed and went out into the corridor. She wondered if the detail would have any information but was surprised when she found no one there. She supposed it was because they were in a military base so there was no threat to her and Jason, and her mom was at the hospital, so most of the detail would be there. She walked along the corridor to the room where her dad and Stevie had been earlier. Stevie had looked awful when the detail had moved her to their vehicles. Allison hadn't been back in the room since her dad had left but she needed to see where it had all happened.

She slowly opened the door and noticed the light was out. She reached to the side of the door and hit the switch and the sight that met her caused her to scream.

"Help! Somebody help!" she shouted into the empty corridor, then ran back into the room.

Harrison was lying in the middle of the bed with blood coming from both his wrists. Allison ran to the bed and pulled at the sheet under him to try and wrap his arms. It was at that point that she realised the bedspread was covered with both dry and fresh blood and she realised just how ill Stevie must have been.

"C'mon, Harrison, wake up!" Allison begged him as she kept trying to wrap his wrists, hoping it would be enough to keep him alive.

Jason barged in the door "Ali… oh my God..." He rushed across to the bed. "What should I do?" he yelled, panicking.

"Call the detail, call Blake, call Dad. Call someone!"

Jason ran out of the room, screaming for help. Allison could hear his voice getting quieter as he rushed down the stairs. She reached over and tried to feel a pulse at Harrison's neck and leaned over to see if he was breathing. She sighed in relief when she felt a faint pulse and breath on her cheek. She decided that the best way to help stop the bleeding would be to hold his arms up, so she did, praying that her brother would bring help soon.

Allison heard the help coming long before she saw them. She could hear the pounding boots as they ran up the stairs, voices shouting to each other to get an ambulance. They finally appeared at the door, men similar in size to the one who had awoken her only a few short hours before.

"Help him, please, he's cut his wrists."

One man only needed a quick glance to take in the whole scene and immediately spoke into his cuff mike. "I need immediate medical assistance. Barracks floor 3. MSec's room."

A woman, whom Allison hadn't seen behind the man, approached her. "Is he alive?" she asked Allison gently.

Allison nodded tearfully. "He has a pulse in his neck. It's really weak, though. And he's breathing but not much. I tried to stop the bleeding but I don't know if I did the right thing."

The female officer moved to stand beside Allison. "You did really good, honey, but you can leave him to us now." She reached up to take Harrison's arms but Allison couldn't let go.

"I can't let go. He needs me to stop the bleeding."

"Okay, okay, you stay like that for now. We have an ambulance coming from the hospital."

Allison nodded and realised that she was shaking and covered in Harrison's blood. "There's so much blood," she whispered.

The agent started stroking her head. "I know, but you've done everything right, okay?"

"Is he going be all right?"

"I don't know but I do know that if he is, then you saved his life."

They all stood around the bed, Allison, three agents and Jason, waiting for the ambulance. Allison tried to focus on the fact that Harrison was still breathing. She couldn't understand how someone could do this to themselves, and then it struck her. "Stevie! Is Stevie okay? Dad took her away. Blake said she was in surgery. Did he do this because something happened to her?" Now she really began to panic.

The agents all made eye contact with each other. MSec's detail had told them what had happened to her daughter but they had no idea if the other children had been told. However, the female agent made the decision to tell them, given the panic that was rising in Allison.

"Your sister's fine. She's out of surgery but she lost the baby."

"That's why he did this, isn't it?" Jason asked quietly.

"We don't know, son," the male agent said. "The best we can do is get him some help."

Just as he finished speaking two military paramedics appeared in the doorway.

"Can you clear the room, please? Let us through," one of the paramedics said, rushing into the small room.

They quickly checked Harrison's condition before putting an oxygen mask on him. They took pity on Allison, who was still struggling to let go of Harrison's arms.

"Please, miss, we need to get him to hospital," one of the paramedics said to her quietly. He gently removed Harrison's arms from Allison's grip. "You've done a wonderful job but we'll take it from here." He quickly bandaged Harrison's wrists while the other paramedic got the gurney ready. When he was done they both transferred Harrison to the gurney and headed for the door.

"Can we come with you?" Allison begged the paramedics, who looked to the others and saw the imperceptible nod from the agents.

"Our parents are already there," Jason added, hoping to get confirmation that they could go in the ambulance.

"We'll inform the Secretary and the President. You two go. One of us will go with you to the hospital." He nodded to the female agent, who looked grateful to have the job. She walked up behind Allison. "C'mon, sweetheart, let the ambulance men get him down the stairs quickly and we'll take you to your mom and dad."

Allison didn't move, rooted to the spot in shock. She only looked around when Jason came back into the room with her jacket that he'd fetched from their room. "C'mon, Ali, you did good. Let's go." He helped her put on her jacket.

Allison nodded, unable to reply, and followed the others from the room and out to the stairwell. She didn't notice Blake until he was almost beside her.

"Blake, we're going to the hospital," she heard Jason say next to her.

"Okay, I'll come with you. I just have to call Nadine."

"No, Sir, no calls yet. We need to tell the President first," the male agent said curtly.

"I know, I was sent by the President to find him," Blake said succinctly. "I have it covered. No press, I promise."

"Very well," the agent agreed as they sped down the stairs behind the paramedics and out into the dawn.

The ambulance was waiting for them, along with one of the detail SUVs. Allison and Jason watched as the gurney was loaded into the back of the ambulance and then Blake guided them to the car that was waiting for them. The ambulance sped across the base with the siren blaring and its lights flashing, and the SUV followed, also with its lights going.

The night was ending but the threat to individuals and families may have only just begun.

 **Thanks for sticking with the story till here. I will update again at the weekend. Thanks for those who have favourited the story or given a review. Comments are always welcome.**


	14. Threats bring families together

Chapter 13

 _Ok folks here is chapter 13, hope you enjoy it. Thanks for reading and favouriting._

Threats bring families together.

Frank opened the door to Stephanie McCord's room. He really didn't want to be the person to do this but there was no one else to pass on the message. He looked around the room and noted Dr McCord sitting beside the bed and Madam Secretary lying beside Stephanie. He was glad to note that Stephanie was asleep. He came straight to the point, firmly but quietly. "Ma'am, I'm afraid I have some bad news for you."

Elizabeth got up off the bed and squeezed Henry's hand. She walked over to the door and followed Frank out into the corridor. They moved down the corridor a little, leaving one on-duty agent guarding the door. Stevie had been placed in a room at the end of the corridor to allow the detail to fully secure the area and Elizabeth could see several of her detail patrolling the section. She faced Frank, unsure what bad news he may have for her. "Have there been more attacks, Frank?"

"Uh, no, ma'am, this is about Harrison Dalton. Allison found him in the barracks. He'd tried to kill himself in the room Stephanie had been in."

"Oh my God… Is he…"

"Unclear at this time, Ma'am. Allison was found trying to save him. He's on his way here. So are Allison, Jason and Blake."

Elizabeth was shocked. Sure, Harrison had seemed in a bad way when he'd left the hospital but she never would have expected this. "I need to tell Henry but Stevie doesn't need to know until we know for sure what's going on. Make sure the rest of the detail know that."

"Yes, Ma'am."

Elizabeth started to head back towards Stevie's room but then turned back to Frank. "Does the President know?"

"Yes, Ma'am. Blake called Nadine and she informed him. He's on his way here, too, with his wife."

"Good. Harrison has his support network, we have to be here for Stevie. Have the children brought up when they get here."

Elizabeth was torn between returning to Stevie or going to meet Allison when she arrived at the hospital. They both needed her.

No, she pulled herself together. Her detail would be happier if she stayed here so she spoke quietly to Frank. "Frank… Allison will be in a state. Please see that she's okay."

"We'll go get her, Ma'am. Don't worry, we'll bring her to you."

"Thank you, Frank."

Elizabeth watched as Frank swiftly walked away from her and spoke to another agent as he passed the rest of the detail at the end of the corridor, instructing him to follow. She turned to go back into the room when Henry came through the door.

"What's wrong?" Henry asked, seeing the look on her face.

"After Harrison heard the news about the baby he went back to the barracks and tried to kill himself."

Henry's face lost all the colour it had gained when he'd realised that Stevie was okay, "Is he okay?"

"They don't know yet but Allison found him and whatever she did, Frank believes she gave him a chance."

"Noodle! I can't believe it. This is gonna hit her bad."

"I know. Frank said they're bringing her and Jason here."

"Good, I don't want us to be separated. Team McCord needs to stay together."

He pulled her into his arms, needing to feel her beside him.

_M'Sec_

Conrad Dalton couldn't believe what he'd heard. He wouldn't have expected his son to have this sort of reaction to a miscarriage. Perhaps Harrison had been right earlier that morning when he'd accused them all of not putting their children first. Perhaps if he'd known Harrison better he could have seen this coming and sent the detail after him with more urgency than he had.

He could see Nadine filling Jackson in and both of them looking towards him with shocked looks on their faces. For the first time in a long time, Conrad didn't know what to do. The country needed him in this time of threat but now Harrison and Lydia needed him, too. His own security detail were encouraging him to leave and go to his son and people around the room were looking over at him, unsure of what was going on, but he was struggling to move. It was like he had lead feet.

Needing the counsel of his Chief of Staff, Dalton signalled to Russell to come over and join him. "Russell," he said with quiet urgency as soon as he was beside him, "You've heard about Harrison?" At Russell's nod he took a breath. The last thing they needed was the press to get wind of this story. "Try to keep a lid on it."

"Of course, Sir."

Dalton only hesitated for a moment as he thought of his son before getting back to business. "And find out what the suspect told the head of the FBI. We're going to need to do a press conference covering all of the issues that have come up in the last few hours."

"Mr President, that can all wait until we hear what's going on at the hospital. The press can't get there and it won't make the morning news."

"Yes, I know. If anything else develops…"

"I know exactly where you are, Sir, You'll be kept informed."

"Good…"

"Go, Mr President. You're needed there right now."

"Yes. I just never…"

Jackson looked over to the door of the hanger. "Right now, you need to be a husband and a father. Go be with your wife, Sir. She needs you. I really hope Harrison's okay." Jackson practically pushed Conrad towards the door where his wife was waiting.

Conrad watched as Russell walked back over to the area where his team were working. Jackson was right, there was nothing he could do here at the moment. He needed to be at the hospital.

Dalton and his wife were bundled into an SUV by his detail and, far too quickly for his liking, they were at the hospital, watching as their son was wheeled past them on his way to Emergency.

Harrison had made many bad choices in his life, many of which they'd come to blows about, but Conrad had never ever expected him to do something like this. He could see Allison McCord, covered in blood and very distraught, being led away from the area by Elizabeth's detail. He'd have to find out what had happened and, if Elizabeth's daughter had saved Harrison, he had no idea how to thank her.

Conrad turned to his wife and pulled her weeping form into his arms. He had to stay strong, that's what he decided. Both his wife and son were going to need him. And for the first time he seriously considered whether he wanted to run for President again.

_M'SEC_

Frank pulled Allison away from Harrison as the hospital staff took charge of the first son. She was in quite a state and clearly going into shock. He spoke to Jennifer, the agent who had accompanied Alison and Jason to the hospital, and instructed her to get some hospital scrubs and some blankets. If they were all going to be in Stephanie's room, Alison needed to be cleaned up or there'd be questions from Stephanie about what happened.

Frank called for Jason to follow as he put his arm around Allison. He didn't usually use personal touches but this was a unique circumstance and, in his job, that was saying a lot. They made their way towards Stevie's room and he could see his boss waiting for her children outside the door. Both broke away from Frank when they saw their mom and ran towards her.

Elizabeth gathered Allison in her arms and Allison began to sob. She reached for Jason and pulled him to her as well.

"Oh, Noodle, I'm so sorry you had to face this," she whispered.

"She was amazing, Mom," Jason said quietly. "The detail woman said she probably saved his life."

Elizabeth turned towards Jason and smiled. It wasn't often that he praised his sisters, so this must have been really quite something.

"I'm very proud of you, honey." She pulled back a little to look at Allison and Frank took the opportunity to quietly interrupt them.

"Ma'am, we're having some scrubs sent up. We didn't want to upset Stephanie any more than needed."

Elizabeth hugged both her children tighter and kissed them both on the head before letting them go and walking over to Frank, saying quietly, "Thanks, Frank. Uh, did Blake come with the kids?"

"Yes, Ma'am. He's just in the waiting area. Would you like me to send him through?"

"Please, Frank. I need to find out what else is going on, especially if the President's here."

Frank walked away to get Blake and returned with the scrubs for Allison. She took the scrubs gratefully and headed to the bathroom to change.

Blake walked over to Elizabeth. "You wanted to see me, Ma'am?"

"Yes, Blake. I need you to fill me in on what's going on out there. Then we're going to have to draft a statement about the events here."

"Very well, Ma'am."

Elizabeth turned to Jason and guided him towards Stevie's room. She needed to be there while she and Henry told Stevie about Harrison but that couldn't happen until they knew if he'd survived or not. There was just time now for her to do her job and be back to being mom in a little while. She opened the door and Henry moved away from the bed towards them.

"Babe, I need to go talk to Blake for a bit."

Henry simply nodded in agreement and pulled Jason from under Elizabeth's arm into his own arms.

Allison came up quietly behind Elizabeth who turned and put her arms around her.

Elizabeth looked at her two youngest children and said quietly, so as not to disturb Stevie, "Guys, Stevie can't know about this yet. We need to wait for news from the doctor. Are you okay about keeping quiet? I promise we'll tell her soon, just once we know everything."

Allison and Jason both nodded and hugged their mother, then turned and slowly walked towards Stevie's bed as Elizabeth watched them. Henry gave Elizabeth an encouraging hug before turning and following his children.

"How's Stevie?" Jason asked his father quietly.

"She's going to be fine, buddy, but she lost the baby."

"Can we stay here with you?" Allison asked.

Henry hugged each of them, wanting to reassure them that, even though the past 24 hours had been chaotic, their family was still the same. "Of course you can. Here, come over and sit down. Your sister's going to need lots of TLC. You can help with that."

"Well, just as long as she doesn't take advantage of my kindness," Jason said, trying to be macho.

Henry just smiled and then glanced at Elizabeth, who was watching from the open doorway, when he noticed Jason sitting holding his sister's hand and whispering to her. They really did have fantastic kids.

_MSEC_

 **AN:** So there are two chapters to go, one will be out in the middle of the week and the last next weekend. Thanks for your support.


	15. Some threats are resolved

Chapter 14

 **AN: So here is chapter 14, not going to say much but I hope you enjoy it. Thanks for the reviews this week I have liked hearing what you think.**

 _Some threats are resolved._

"Ladies and gentlemen, if you could take your seats, there will be a brief statement about the terrorist attacks from the Press Secretaries of both the White House and State Department and then there will be time for questions. After that the Secretary of State will make a statement about other matters, where there will no be questions taken. Please take your seats as quickly as possible," Daisy's deputy spoke firmly from the front of the room in which the press had been holed up for over 12 hours.

The reporters all knew that they were the lucky ones. They were the White House press core and, as such, always had exclusive access to the executive branch of the government. It also meant that they travelled with the President at all times, even in this situation, so they were at the forefront of getting information. However, even they were near the end of their patience and were glad that a statement was finally being released and, hopefully, so would they be, as they hadn't been able to go home yet.

The noise slowly ebbed away as Daisy and Brad entered from the side of the room and approached the podium in the middle. Brad, as the senior press secretary, took the position to speak.

"Folks, this briefing will outline the events of last night and what has been accomplished by different countries around the world to bring this threat to an end. Please wait until I finish before asking any questions.

"As you are aware, overnight US time, there have been nine different terrorist events. In cities in the US, the UK, Australia, Spain, Russia, Japan and Germany. These attacks took a variety of different forms. I will run through them one by one to explain the nature of the threat and how it has been neutralised.

"The attacks began in the UK and Germany. The Parliament in the UK was attacked by a suicide bomber. There were 15 dead and 76 injured. The bomber's identity has been discovered and the UK intelligence agencies will release more information when they are able.

"In Germany, the attack came in the form of a package sent to the office of a member of the German Bundestag. The package did explode but the building had been evacuated in advance and there were only 6 casualties, all with non-life-threatening injuries.

"In four other cities around the world the US embassies were targeted. In Madrid, Canberra, Tokyo and Moscow our embassies were attacked with bombs. The ones in Madrid and Moscow were suicide bombers. The other two were devices left outside the buildings.

"In Moscow and Tokyo there were no casualties, apart from the bomber in Moscow, due to the preventative actions taken by the State Department with cooperation from the Defence Department. However, in Madrid there were 9 dead, 6 of whom were Marine Guards, and three civilian employees of the State Department.

"In Australia, the attack at the embassy was even more devastating as the bomber got beyond the perimeter and managed to destroy part of the building. We do not have complete figures for that attack but can announce that 21 people have been confirmed dead at this time with over 100 injured. These figures may, of course, change with further searches of the site.

"Now we come to the attacks in the US, where bombs were used at three different locations. We discussed certain elements of the first two at our last press conference but, just to confirm, there were 10 killed at the White House and a total of 17 injured in the two attacks. The third attack was at the Lincoln Memorial. Given the timing of the attack, it being the third attack, not the first, the area had been cleared of most people. Unfortunately, several homeless men were still sheltering in the area and were seriously wounded. The monument has extensive damage, as I am sure you will have seen from the information being broadcast.

"We are now in a position to release information about those whom we know are the perpetrators of these attacks. We have received communications from those responsible, blaming the attacks on US foreign policy. After further investigation, it appears that the attacks were as a response to the US and its allies' attacks in Syria against various groups operating in that country and the middle east. Several terrorists have been apprehended in different countries and are being interrogated as we speak. We have gained significant knowledge about the group involved in the attacks and we will reveal any further information as we are cleared to do so. We are able to say that through cooperation with our allies we have ended the current threat and all members of this group are in custody.

"Now, are there any questions?" Brad moved to the side as Daisy stepped up beside him to help answer any questions. There was the unsurprising clamour for attention that came with any press conference.

Daisy pointed to a reporter who was at least being polite and not jumping all over the person in front of them. "Jane."

"Daisy, Brad, how bad is the destruction at the West Wing? What is the contingency for the President?"

Brad stepped forward, given his role as White House secretary. "The FBI have begun their investigation of the bombing at the White House. It is likely to last for several days due to the nature of the attack. There is significant structural damage and repairs will not be able to start until the investigation is wrapped up. When we have any information we will share it. For now, President Dalton stays at Andrews."

"Keith." Daisy pointed to another reporter.

"Do we know why they targeted the Lincoln Memorial?"

"We have been told it was linked to the terrorists' idea of a target where there would be a large number of the public at any time, only they did not realise that we would clear the mall at the onset of any terrorist activity."

"John." Brad indicated to another reporter.

"Daisy, we haven't seen the Secretary of State much tonight, is there anything going on we need to know about?"

Daisy cleared her throat and used the statement that she and Matt had come up with as they'd walked to the hangar, even though it wasn't entirely accurate. "She has been coordinating the State Department's response to the attacks on our embassies but she will be through to speak to you shortly." Daisy nodded to her deputy to get Elizabeth. This wasn't her idea and she'd go on record to that effect. She couldn't decide if this was the bravest thing or the stupidest thing her boss had done since she'd come to office.

The door at the back opened and Elizabeth walked in with Henry, which was a surprise to most in the room. They were preceded by Frank and two other agents. The rest of the State Department team, Nadine, Jay, Matt and Blake, filed in behind them and all stood along the back wall of the small room.

Elizabeth moved with grace to the podium and waited for the room to calm. "Ladies and gentlemen," she began, clearing her throat as she did, "Last night our country was the victim of several terrorist attacks. You have already been briefed on these. However, I have some sad news to announce."

_MSEC_

 _Earlier..._

Colonel James McMann had experienced front line surgery. He'd been in Afghanistan and the Gulf but this moment was one he'd remember for the rest of his life. He was the one who'd tried to save the life of the First Son and had failed. After attempts at blood transfusion Harrison's heart had simply given up and now Colonel McMann had to inform the President that his only child was dead.

He slowly pulled his mask from his face, called the time of death, and took off his outer scrubs. He watched as the other Airmen around him came to terms with exactly what had happened.

"Before I go out there, I hope I don't need to remind you of patient confidentiality," he said to the collective group, not looking anyone in the eye. "There will be a great deal of press coverage. There will be no quotes, apart from the official statement, from any member of this team. Is that understood?"

"Yes, Sir," everyone mumbled in reply.

In all honesty, McMann didn't expect anyone to speak to the press, but they'd never been in a situation like this, so he needed to be sure.

"Right, I'm going to speak to the President. Clean the area and prepare his body. I expect his mother and father will wish to be with him as soon as possible."

Colonel McMann walked from the room, took a deep breath, and made his way to the waiting area that the President's detail had secured for him. He was let through the door to a small waiting room and walked up to President Dalton.

"Sir."

"Yes, Doctor. How is Harrison?"

"Sir, I'm very sorry, we tried all we could but he'd lost a lot of blood. Harrison died 5 minutes ago."

Conrad couldn't say anything. His wife, Lydia, broke down in her chair, weeping.

_MSEC_

Elizabeth took a deep breath. "Many of you will perhaps have been aware that my daughter Stephanie has been in a relationship with Harrison Dalton. Tonight they told us they were expecting a baby. Unfortunately, during the night, Stevie suffered an ectopic pregnancy and lost the baby."

Elizabeth cleared her throat. She needed to do this. Henry stood beside her and gently took her hand. They'd all decided that the truth was the best. Like he'd said before, you don't need to defend it, just let it out like a lion and it will defend itself.

"I wish this was the sad news I had to tell you. However, on hearing the news about his unborn child, Harrison Dalton took his own life. He was found and rushed to the medical centre on the base but, in spite of everything they did, nothing could save him. As you can imagine this is a terrible tragedy for the President and his wife. They have lost their son, Stevie has lost her boyfriend and the father of the child she has just lost, and the families have lost a future grandchild. Please respect our decision to share this news with you and please respect the privacy of both families while we grieve. Please refrain from asking any more questions. There will be no more information given about this situation. Thank you."

Hushed silence filled the room. Elizabeth clasped Henry's hand tighter and walked from the front of the room, making sure that she didn't fall apart in front of the eyes of the press. She noticed several of the press core in tears and she hoped that the honesty they'd used here would prevent anyone from trying to dig into the events of this morning. Her entire focus now needed to be on Stevie and Alison who, in very different ways, were taking Harrison's death very badly.

_MSEC_  
 **AN: So I know this is not the ending many of you wished, I have written the other ending too and may add it as an alternative when the story is finished if people would like to read it. Let me know what you think and the final chapter should be up over the weekend. Thanks for the support.**


	16. Threats change everyone involved

Chapter 15

 **Authors Note: Well folks, here we are at the end of the story. Thanks for following along. Hope the end is satisfying to you all. Thanks to my beta for all her questions that ultimately have made this a much better story. Thanks to you dedicated reviewers who have kept me going, thank you for taking the time to write multiple comments. Well, on with the show, as they say.**

 _Threats forever change the people involved._

Elizabeth McCord was slumped on the end of her bed back in her Georgetown home. It had been one hell of a week and they'd just returned from Harrison Dalton's funeral. Of all the things that she'd experienced in her life, and all the losses, whether private or professional, this had been the hardest to live through. It wasn't because she was close to Harrison, although, of course, he and Stevie had grown up together and had been around each other in their teenage years, even after Elizabeth had left the CIA. Nor was it her relationship to Harrison that had made the funeral so difficult. Rather, it was knowing the pain that Conrad and Lydia, whom she was close to, were in, and seeing that displayed openly in the public place of their son's funeral. And, more importantly for her, the emotions she'd witnessed as Stevie and Allison had tried to come to terms with Harrison's death and what others perceived as their roles in it.

Everyone who had been taken to the Airforce base due to the terrorist threat had all been allowed to leave Andrew's 24 hours after the terrorist leader had given his statement. The terrorists had been rounded up and the threat level had been lowered back down to the usual level of alertness. All that was left was the clean up but, just like her trip to Iran, Elizabeth knew it wouldn't be that easy.

Congress had had several meetings and was deciding what to do about the destruction in D.C. The State Department had been given a temporary home on a floor in a judiciary building that was no longer needed. It was cramped and a little musty but did allow Elizabeth and her staff to get on with the day-to-day business of foreign affairs. Although Conrad hadn't relieved himself of duty, he had allowed the Vice President to take control of the day-to-day business that needed to be dealt with. Conrad and Lydia were at Camp David, where they would stay, given the destruction of the White House and the need for privacy that they'd felt they needed. The West Wing staff had been given temporary accommodation in another federal building and the President was set to resume official duties tomorrow.

Stevie had been released to her parent's care two days after her surgery. She had emotionally retreated into herself, which hadn't surprised Elizabeth, and it was a struggle to get her to communicate with them or eat anything. They didn't know how best to help her, whether they should leave her to work through her grief, or whether they should push her to open up and talk to them.

Henry watched from the door to the bedroom as Elizabeth gathered her thoughts. He walked over to the bed and sat down beside her.

Elizabeth felt her emotional walls slipping as she turned to Henry and threw her arms around his neck, clinging to him and weeping openly.

"Shh, Baby... we need to try and be strong for the girls. They're falling apart."

"I know... just give me a few minutes and I'll go see them." Elizabeth tried to control her breathing, not wanting to suffer another panic attack.

"They're both in Stevie's bed," Henry whispered. "They haven't stopped crying since we left this morning."

-MSEC-

 _Earlier that day..._

 _Elizabeth woke up with arms all over her and it took a few seconds for her to realise that she wasn't sleeping beside Henry but rather Stevie and Allison. She and Henry had tried to sleep but had been awoken by Allison's nightmares and Stevie's crying. By two in the morning it had been just easier to settle all three McCord women in the large bed. Henry had tried to join them but there hadn't been enough room, so he'd made a bed with cushions on the floor and Elizabeth now looked over the edge of the bed to see the space vacated by her husband. She listened carefully and could hear water running in their ensuite. She gently moved from under Stevie's arm and tiptoed to the bathroom. She went in the unlocked door and found Henry looking terrible, trying to make himself presentable for the funeral and the media they would encounter._

 _Elizabeth wrapped her arms around him from behind and caught his gaze in the mirror._

 _Henry smiled weakly. "Hey, Babe, how are you holding up?"_

 _"Not well."_

 _"We need to keep going, Elizabeth. They need us."_

 _"I know..." Elizabeth took a deep breath. "Today's going to be awful..."_

 _Henry nodded and reached up to where Elizabeth's arms were resting on his stomach, gently squeezing one of her hands. "We need to get the girls ready. Frank will be calling us to the cars in an hour."_

 _Elizabeth nodded then hugged Henry tight before reluctantly letting go and standing up straight, bracing herself for the day._

 _Henry turned and gently kissed her on the head. "I'll call Jase. You get the girls up. Stevie might need help to dress and I don't think she'd let me do it."_

 _Elizabeth took a deep breath and walked back into the bedroom. She walked over to wake the girls. "Honey." She gently squeezed Allison's hand. "Sweetheart." She then did the same with Stevie, adding quietly as they both slowly opened their eyes, "Girls, you need to get ready."_

 _Allison simply turned over and curled herself around her mother's pillow, while Stevie started to move but was stopped by the pain she was in. "I don't know if I can do this," she whispered as she turned on the bed._

 _Elizabeth sighed. She'd had this conversation several times over the last few days with a wide number of people. With Henry the conversation had revolved around ensuring that Stevie should make her own decision about whether or not she attended the funeral. With Daisy, it had been a little harder. Her press secretary had been worried about 'the optics' if Stevie didn't go and what comments might be made by the press. Elizabeth had quickly informed her that she didn't care what other people thought and that all that mattered was Stevie and her distress at this time._

 _Then there was the strained conversation she'd had with Conrad, who'd been looking for someone to blame for Harrison's suicide and appeared to have decided that Stevie was that person, something which Elizabeth had vehemently opposed. He had even suggested that Stevie shouldn't make an appearance at the funeral but again Elizabeth had told him that he did not make that decision for her daughter only she could decide. However, this was the first time in the lead up to the funeral that Stevie had voiced any concern about attending._

" _Honey, you're strong enough to do anything. However, if you choose not to go, your father and I will support you. If you want to stay here then Dad will stay and so can anyone else." She stroked Stevie's hair. "I'll have to go, baby. There'd be more speculation from the press if I didn't. You come first but I can only keep the press quiet if I go."_

 _Stevie slowly moved on the bed, testing how much she could stretch with her healing wounds, waking Allison again in the process. "It's not my fault. I didn't make Harrison do it." She looked over and reached for her sister's hand. "And Allison did everything she could to save him. We're not to blame so I'm not hiding." She gingerly got up from the bed. "Mom, I'm gonna need help to get ready."_

" _No problem, honey." Elizabeth gently stroked Stevie's arm then looked at her youngest daughter. "Allison, can you manage by yourself?"_

 _Elizabeth looked at her younger daughter. She was paler than normal, and that was saying something. Harrison's death had hit Allison in a particularly devastating way. Elizabeth had spent a lot of time talking to Jennifer, the female agent who had found Allison with Harrison on the base. She had explained how Allison hadn't wanted to release Harrison's arms and how invested she had been in helping him. Elizabeth was now convinced that Allison was experiencing overwhelming guilt that was changing her behaviour. Both she and Henry had discussed the possibility of counselling for their daughter but there was time for that later. For today they just needed to get through the funeral._

 _Once they were ready the McCord family made their way to the waiting cars. The press were already waiting for them, although Frank and his team had made sure they couldn't get close. The service was held in Washington National Cathedral and was packed. Elizabeth and Henry made the decision not to sit at the front as Elizabeth was worried about Conrad's reaction to Stevie and she wouldn't let her daughter be blamed for this, nor let her be humiliated in public by a grieving father who also happened to be the President._

 _It was a strange service, and a difficult one. It was hard to listen to the priest try to discuss the circumstances of Harrison's death. The concept of forgiveness or blame, punishment or compassion, was never easy and she'd had many late-night whispered conversations with Henry since they'd returned to their home. She didn't know the theological answers to the question that suicide posed but she knew that at some point one of her children was going to want to discuss it. Of course, this would be one of those times when she'd pass the baton to her husband._

 _Things went as well as could be expected until they all left the church. The press were waiting and, having respected the privacy of the first family for over a week, they now saw an opportunity to get a response from the President._

 _"Mister President, who do you blame for this tragedy?" shouted one over zealous reporter as Conrad, Lydia and the McCord's happened to be in sight of each other. Although nothing was said, the look Conrad gave Stevie and Allison was enough for the press to jump on the possibility of an exclusive. As Elizabeth and Henry bundled their family into the SUV she could hear the shouts all around her._

" _Sir, do you blame Stephanie McCord?"_

" _Could nothing have been done to save him?"_

" _Is Secretary McCord still the right person for the job?"_

" _Is Secretary McCord's daughter responsible?"_

 _By the time Frank had navigated their vehicle away from the church, Stevie and Allison were both inconsolably sobbing._

 _Henry looked at Elizabeth and they had a silent conversation before Henry turned to the driver and said, "Frank, take us home. We've had enough for today."_

" _Yes, Sir. Let me just let the others know."_

 _They headed for home, with both Elizabeth and Henry quietly comforting the girls. There was thankfully no press left at their house, as everyone had expected them to go to the Capitol building for the wake._

 _-MSEC-_

Jason McCord hated feeling useless. He'd watched as Ali had done everything right to save Harrison and had seen her fall apart when it hadn't been enough. He'd also watched as Stevie had come to terms with losing both her baby and her boyfriend, although he'd be first to admit that she was far from having dealt with it. It had only been a week, after all.

But what he really hated was people attacking his family and not being able to say anything in their defence. He'd watched some of the news reports as speculation about Harrison's death had reached fever pitch, despite his mother's statement. Eventually, Brad, the president's press secretary, had been forced to release another statement that had outlined more of the circumstances. It was at this point that it had become open season on Stevie and Allison. Questions were asked about the girls' roles in Harrison's death, even although Jason believed they were suffering enough.

So, now that they were back from the funeral, Jason had decided, against his normal practice, to be a trooper and, while his dad had gone to check on his mum, he was in Stevie's room, seeing if there was anything he could get his sisters. "What about ice cream?" he offered.

The thought of the sweet, cold snack seemed, for a few seconds at least, to stop the crying on the bed. Jason didn't even wait for an answer but bolted from the room, keen to do something to help. He didn't even notice his father as he careened into him.

"Woah, buddy, where are you off too?" Henry smiled slightly at his son as he caught Jason before he fell to the floor.

"I thought I'd get us some ice cream. You know what girls are like when they're upset."

"Sounds like a good idea. How about you get enough for all of us. Oh, and grab a movie. I think this calls for a McCord movie night, don't you?" Henry briefly pulled Jason in to a hug then let him go. He watched as Jason passed their bedroom and received a hug from Elizabeth as she came out of the room.

"What do you think, babe?" he asked quietly. "Ice cream and a movie?"

Elizabeth nodded. "Team McCord time," she whispered back and moved into his open arms.

Henry guided them both to Stevie's room, where Elizabeth got onto the bed beside the girls who were still comforting each other. Both girls responded to their mother's presence and moved to be beside her.

When Jason returned he noticed the slight change in emotions. The rest of the family were deep in conversation and he was a little unsure about joining them.

Henry was the first to spot him and smiled, gesturing for Jason to join them.

Jason decided it was time for him to revert to normal form. "So, Mom has clearly been raiding the freezer. There's only a small amount of vanilla and loads of chocolate. You know, for an ex-spy, you do make it obvious when you sneak stuff from the kitchen," he scolded his mother, causing his siblings to smile.

"I do not!" Elizabeth huffed, following Jason's lead. "I'll have you know that vanilla is your father's weakness, too."

"Sorry, babe. It was you this time."

"Traitor," she spat at him, smiling.

Jason divided the ice cream he'd found into bowls and peace and quiet descended as the family enjoyed their treat and the company.

Suddenly, without warning, Stevie teared up again. Elizabeth handed her bowl to Henry and pulled Stevie into a hug.

"You okay, sweetie?"

Stevie looked forlornly up at her mom. "I was just thinking about the last time I had ice cream... It was only two weeks ago. I was feeling so sick and it was the only thing I could keep down. It just doesn't seem real that the baby's gone and Harrison… And everything else that happened that night…"

"I know, honey. It feels like a dream, and it's gonna feel pretty bad for a while. But we'll always have each other and, no matter what, we'll have each other's backs, I promise."

"I couldn't have done anything differently, could I?" Alison asked quietly from the other side of Elizabeth.

Elizabeth looked over at Henry. They'd both known that this question burned inside Allison but she hadn't voiced it until this moment. Elizabeth nodded for him to answer.

Henry cleared his throat. "Noodle, Harrison had lost a lot of blood by the time you got to him. You said yourself that you immediately tried to stop the bleeding and get him help. You couldn't have done any more than you did. But what you did give him was a friend at the end. He didn't die alone. It might not seem much now but you did all that could be done. Harrison made a choice, like we all make choices. He wanted a family and the death of his child hit him hard. Your mom and I know what that's like." He looked over to his beloved wife, almost for permission to keep going. She nodded with tears in her eyes.

"Before we had Stevie your mom was pregnant and we were so excited. I was back from Desert Storm and all was right with our world. But your mom was in pain like Stevie and I took her to the hospital and I was told that she was having a miscarriage, an ectopic one like Stevie had. This nice nurse told me that there was no way to save the baby but I should pray that your mom survived. And I did. You see, I was devastated about losing the baby but losing your mom would have destroyed me.

"Harrison struggled to see the future. When it happened to us, all I wanted was for your mom to get better. Harrison cared for Stevie but couldn't see a future without the baby. That was his choice, not Stevie's or yours, Allison. That was all him. We might not ever understand what drove him to it, but it isn't the fault of anybody here. Are we clear?"

Elizabeth smiled and looked at her kids. "Yes, Captain, we're clear." She paused, then added quietly, "Finish the story, Henry."

By this point all of the McCord children were focussed on their father.

"After Stevie came, we got pregnant again. Stevie was about two. Things looked like they were going well until one night your mom had a fever and then lots of pain. She was having another miscarriage, only this time there wasn't a reason for it. No one could explain to us why. They just said it happens a lot. We were… very sad... it changed us, brought us even closer together. It could've driven us apart but it didn't. We went on to have you both." He pointed to Allison and Jason. "But that doesn't mean we didn't think about the baby we'd lost."

"Was it a boy or a girl?" Stevie asked quietly.

"We don't know," Elizabeth answered. "We never found out. It was too early and if, I'm honest, at the time I didn't want to know. The baby was already gone and I thought it'd be too painful to know."

"Didn't you ever wonder?" Allison asked.

"All the time, Noodle," her father answered, "I even used to dream about our family as you grew up. In some dreams there would be four kids instead of three. It was always difficult when I woke up and that child wasn't there."

There was silence in the room for a beat before Jason, who had been seriously contemplating the addition of two other siblings to his family casually said, as if thinking out loud, "You mean all this time, we could have outnumbered them?"

There was an odd atmosphere as the other children waited for their parents' reaction to Jason's quite callous remark. Slowly both Henry and Elizabeth began smiling.

"You know, buddy, I've never thought about it that way before. You and I could've had a whole crew going. More than enough to overpower those girls over there."

"Oh, I don't think so, professor," Elizabeth countered. "Who said it was a boy? You see, precedent is on our side. We could've totally ruled the house! Imagine 4, or even 5 women in team McCord."

"We would've definitely needed more than one family bathroom," Jason said in such a serious tone that all the others burst out laughing.

"No, buddy, we would've simply built a man cave in the garden and you and I would've moved in."

"I don't see it, Dad. You and Mom can barely be apart for a day. You wouldn't survive in another building!" Allison giggled.

Henry looked lovingly at Elizabeth, "You're probably right, honey."

"Why haven't you told us about this before?" Stevie asked quietly.

Elizabeth sighed. "We weren't keeping secrets from you. We just chose to focus on you guys, the farm, our work... We never forget that we'd lost two children but we just wanted to focus on you."

"I don't think I can do that," Stevie said, beginning to cry again.

"No one is asking you to, baby girl. You're a different person to us and your circumstances aren't the same. However you choose to move on, we're right behind you. All of us."

"I wish Harrison was still here."

"We all do, sweetie, and it'll be a long time before you're over what's happened to you. In fact, it's likely you'll never be the same again. But we'll always love you and we'll always there for you."

Stevie sniffed. "Thanks, Mom." She snuggled into her mom's arms.

"A lot's happened in the last few weeks," Henry said, "And it'll take time to process. All we can do is look out for each other, like we always do. Team McCord all the way!" Henry took hold of Allison's hand and squeezed it as he moved onto the edge of the bed beside the women in his family.

Jason looked aghast at the emotional 'hugging' that was starting at the top of the bed and leapt off before he could be forced to join in. "If you think I'm getting involved in a group hug, you have another thing coming!" He moved to collect all the ice cream bowls and reached for the DVD he'd brought up from downstairs. "Good job I brought a guy movie and none of that chick flick rubbish."

"Not too much violence, I hope." Elizabeth said as she settled down on the bed. "I think we've had enough bombings for now."

"Nope, I thought of that. I brought an old favourite. It's pirate time! Let's see how Johnny Depp finds lost treasure at sea. Yo ho, mi hearties!" Jason tried out his pirate accent, with the responding laugh making him pleased he'd tried.

As the first scene of the movie began, Henry reached over to hold Elizabeth's hand. They'd all been through a lot. Some would say too much. The country had survived its most dangerous threat for many years, and their family would survive theirs. Threats could destroy or they could be overcome, but they would forever change the people left behind.

 **AN: Thanks for all the comments and support, you have made writing for the fandom really good fun. I'm really keen to hear what you think of the ending to this so please take the time to review. I have one more idea bubbling at the moment but its very alternative reality and I can't quite get it to work. However I am up for writing stories for any challenges that anyone would like to see, so if you have a suggestion get in touch. Hope to get more inspiration soon, maybe will have to see if I get inspiration as I see more of season 2.**


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